Elements
by dasserk
Summary: A collection of drabbles about Toni Stark's childhood; wild years; 3 months in Afghanistan; and all the little bits of life that slip between chapters of 'Alloy' without proper recognition. ALLOY IS BEING REWRITTEN, AND SO WILL THIS (eventually).
1. Yinsen

**So, this is Elements. It's a collection of the, for lack of a better word, _elements_ that built up and burned down everything that embodies Toni Stark.**

**The first 'element' is a closer look at Toni's time in Afghanistan. I could go further, and I might, because she was there for three months, but after creating the reactor, Toni's mind is driven by the single thought of escape, and it doesn't seem very interesting to write. **

**But _before_ that, the moment in which Toni was still searching for a way out of that desolate cave - as you can infer, it was a pivotal point in history for Toni. I think it deserves some recognition.**

**So, here's an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Alloy, _Yinsen_, which leads into some more Toni whump.**

* * *

_"I've seen many wounds like that in my village," the self-proclaimed doctor continued, with an edge to his voice that told Toni he was serious despite his light-hearted tone. "We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."_

_Toni clenched her jaw. She wasn't ready to die in a week. She gripped at the car battery, and glanced down at the painful contraption in her chest. "What does this do?" she asked him quietly._

_"It's an electromagnet, hooked up to your car battery. It keeps the shrapnel from entering your heart." Toni exhaled, almost laughing, and an incredulous smile broke out on her grim face._

_The man raised an eyebrow at her strange reaction, and she shook her head, looking down. "The ingenuity of it," she explained, "in a fucking cave with terrorists." Her little smile twisted bitterly, and she glared at the ground._

. . .

_"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile." The doctor told her, and Toni didn't answer. "He wants you to make a list of materials, to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."_

She quickly realized that she'd need more than a week to do this, whatever 'this' was (she wasn't building a missile, no point in that). Toni leaned against the rock wall, eyeing the missile parts that had been dumped on the floor an hour ago.

"You'll need to start working soon," the doctor commented from where he was stoking their fire. His name was Yinsen. He'd told her earlier, and for once, Toni decided she'd make an effort to remember that name. "Our friends don't tolerate procrastination."

Sucking in a deep breath, Toni's chest convulsed. Ah, right. She couldn't sigh in self-pity anymore. Her ribs had been carved up a bit in the surgery that jammed a hunk of metal into her chest cavity. She ran her finger along the gauze-concealed wiring, and followed them to the heavy battery she'd set on the ground. "Well, I can't really work one-handed," she spat out. "And it's even harder to work for terrorists when you'll be dead in a week."

Yinsen's look told her how much he disapproved of compliance. Toni rolled her eyes. "Then this is a very important week for you, Stark."

"I can't do anything like _this_, Yinsen." Toni argued. Her fingers squeezed around the battery painfully. "And why _should_ I anyway?" Her resolve was disintegrating faster than Toni could comprehend. "I'm just going to die, none of this matters," her eyes were burning. She almost told herself not to cry, not to show weakness but... it didn't matter, nothing did.

Tears splashed onto her shirt carelessly, for the first time in eight years. She hadn't cried openly since Howard and Maria's funerals.

She almost expected Yinsen to come over to her, to console her. Toni braced herself to snap at his sympathy, but it never came.

"Then give up." His voice was icy. Toni's head shot up in shock. He gave her a harsh look. "Give up, and prove that you're as pitiful as everyone thinks you are. Is this how the great Toni Stark wants to die? Weak, broken, in an Afghan cave?" he demanded. Jumping to his feet with more energy than Toni thought possible, he pointed at her fiercely. "I can believe it."

Toni opened her mouth to protest angrily. He spoke before she could get a word out."You think differently? _Prove it, Stark_."

Her hands curled into fists. "I'm not _weak_," she hissed. "I just need more _time_, I can't - "

"Then make more time!" Yinsen implored, gazing directly into her dark eyes.

Toni stared, lost. "Make more time?" Her eyes drifted to her own chest, the electromagnet that was slowing the shrapnel in her heart. The car battery needed to power the magnet was restrictive, bulky, and not powerful enough.

New task: make a new power source that's smaller, portable, and most importantly, _stronger_. The solution materialized before her mind like it always did. It was easier than the usual task, because Toni already knew how to make a stronger power source. It just needed to be modified to be portable, and created with the scarce materials available.

_Alright, not as easy as usual_, Toni conceded, running through the materials she could substitute or change. But not impossible.

"Okay," Toni said shakily. "I can do that."

Filled to brim with nervous energy, Toni hovered over Yinsen. "Careful!" she couldn't help but remind him as he carried the crucible back to the workstation.

"I am," Yinsen assured her smoothly, as if he'd done this a thousand times. He had never done it before though, so his easy tone was actually deceptive, which made Toni even more nervous in turn.

"We've only got one shot at this," she couldn't resist adding, though it was completely unnecessary. She'd given him an intense crash course on arc reactor energy, and Yinsen knew the risks.

Not looking away from the precise amount of palladium he was pouring into a ring, Yinsen smiled gently for her. "Relax, Stark. I have steady hands. Your life attests to that."

"Yeah," Toni said distractedly, staring at the cooling ring of metal. "And I suppose my prolonged existence will prove that again, 'cause this won't work if we get the palladium wrong."

"Has anyone ever told you how cynical you are?" Yinsen asked pleasantly.

Toni thought of Rhodey. And Pepper. And Happy. "'_The day wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of Toni angst._'" she quoted sardonically.

Yinsen noticed. He set down the empty crucible, and Toni settled herself onto the barstool. "Who said that?" he asked curiously.

Plucking a pair of tweezers from a cup of grimy tools, Toni smiled sadly. "Jim Rhodes. He's... he's my best friend." she refused to refer to him in the past tense, because that would imply she wasn't going to see him again.

She had to see him again. And Pepper. And Happy. Damn it, she _had_ to make it back to them.

They both held their breath as Toni reached out with the tweezers. Slowly, she transferred the paper-thin ring to the modified reactor shell. Simultaneously, the two of them sighed when it slipped into place seamlessly. Yinsen's hands settled on her shoulders, and he patted her in congratulations.

They easily put together its last components, and moments later, the reactor illuminated the room with a lively blue glow. Toni stared at her creation with wide eyes, unable to look away even as her eyes teared up. Yinsen's arm around her shoulders tightened in a half-hug. She could feel his ribcage, and her chest was throbbing uncomfortably from the electromagnet, but she hugged him back all the same.

"Quite ingenious, for a battered young woman in a cave with terrorists," Yinsen muttered proudly, before releasing her.

Allowing her lips to curve into a smile, Toni sighed and settled into a decrepit dentist's chair (or at least it looked like one, she wasn't too sure). "Come on, Doc. I think I'm due for an upgrade."

* * *

**I think the next short story will be a multi-chapter story about Toni's time at MIT. Or, more specifically, the day leading up to her parents' deaths. I've decided to add a bunch of cameos to the whole event, which are blatantly suspicious and foreboding to the reader (and me) but overlooked by Toni because of the traumatic accident that killed her parents...**

**Unfortunately, I won't be posting anything for the next two weeks, nor will I be able to work on anything. (Such is life)**

**But, please, feel free to give me pointers, insult my work, let out your inner fangirl in a review, etc. I'll respond to questions, too. **


	2. Stuck

**I will admit it, I got the idea from an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man in which Spidey and Hawkeye get glued together because of Peter's malfunctioning web shooters. I thought Toni would be a good Hawkeye substitute. And hey, what do you know, there's a few guest appearances in this!**

* * *

**Stuck **

**October 20th 2012 - Queens**

Who knew that a situation could change so radically in the span of 2.15 seconds and a pitiful little _fwip_ from a bite size canister of bio-webbing?

Toni gaped at her left hand as it was rapidly concealed by a malfunctioning can of super-strong cable. It felt kind of like silly string, until it reacted with the air around it and crystalized into a blob of cement around her hand.

"No. No no no no!" She jerked away, knowing it was futile because the cable was designed to solidify on contact with oxygen. _Curse OsCorp and their somewhat-successful products_. She wrenched he hand away again, and Peter squawked in protest.

"Hey hey hey! Calm down, you're going to dislocate my wrist -"

"Calm down?!" Toni screeched. "Your web-shooter just _shat_ all over us! What if I'm glued to you for life? I don't want to be glued to a _nerd_ for life."

"Wha - _you're_ a nerd! Shut up. This is your fault -" he heaved his arm away, and Toni was ruthlessly pulled to the left.

"Your crappy tech, _your fault!_" Toni pulled her hand viciously, and Peter was dragged across his desk.

"Well you wouldn't be stuck to me if you hadn't tried _opening_ it!" He argued, picking at the solid mass of organic fibers with his free hand.

"It was _jammed_, you asked me to help! And clearly it's a defective can. You should've expected that, it's from a defective company," she said disdainfully.

"I am not arguing over OsCorp's ethics right now, Stark! We can get it off, would you stop freaking out?" He seized a pair of pliers, and Toni flinched away from him. "Oi! Stop moving!"

"No, I'm the adult here, I handle the dangerous tools - _give it here,_ Parker."

"What?! In what world are you responsible _or_ an adult?" Peter demanded. "And this is my room, my tools - I know what I'm doing."

Toni waved around their joined hands. "_Clearly_ you don't! Look, if we can just get to my lab, I'll find something more appropriate to cut through this stuff. You _do_ realize that the local authorities came to SI - and not OsCorp - to clean up your spider webs? It'll be easier to find something to disintegrate this stuff at the Tower."

Peter froze, and his eyes grew wide in childlike wonder. "The Tower? _The_ Tower? The _Avengers_ Tower?!"

Toni glared at him as if to say 'What else could I possibly be referring to?'

He stood abruptly, knocking Toni's chair off-balance. She gasped, and careened towards the floor, but he hauled her up by their attached limbs and exclaimed "What are we waiting for?!"

"Uh, small problem, Petey," she interrupted him. "We're in Queens, the Tower's in Manhattan, and I'm too famous not to be recognized in New York City. Don't want to cramp you style or anything, but -"

"It'll raise questions," Peter finished, realization battling back his excitement. "And then there really won't be much of a point to the whole secret identity thing if anyone notices that this stuff is the same stuff Spider-Man uses..."

Toni gave him an apologetic look.

He perked up for a moment. "I can ask Gwen," he suggested. "Can't she go over to the Tower and figure out something for this?"

Toni made a face. "She's an employee of OsCorp. A well-known, teenage employee of OsCorp that was involved with reversing the effects of Connors's freaky lizard serum." She pointed out. "My employees will recognize her, it's a no-go."

He let out a cry of dismay and plopped onto the carpeted floor of his bedroom. Toni flopped after him. He rubbed his head sheepishly as she shot him an irritated look. "Whoops. Still getting used to the webbing-handcuffs thing."

Toni huffed, and straightened up into a more dignified position. "Well, I'm hoping we won't have to get used to it. We just need to be discreet, y'know? Blend in, it's easy to get lost in New York City, right?"

"Okay, this _isn't_ what I meant when I said 'lost in New York City,' Parker!" Toni snapped. "I can't believe you don't have a decent smart phone." Toni had broken her phone yesterday while working on the Mark 46, otherwise she'd have figured this out without Peter - a native New Yorker - attempting to use a _map_. How archaic.

"Don't you swing through this place every other night?" Toni complained.

Peter squinted at the high-rises. "It looks a lot different from up there," he muttered. "We're not lost, I just want to find to quickest route to the Tower."

"It'd be way easier if we had GoogleMaps or something."

"I dropped my phone in the sewer when I was following Connors!" He protested. "And besides, I can still call and receive messages, I don't need a new one."

Toni snorted. "Yeah, same way you don't need a new _computer_, or better _web shooters,_ or a new _camera_..."

Peter scowled. "Not everyone's a billionaire, _Stark_."

She merely rolled her eyes. "And not everyone's friends with a billionaire, but you _are_, Parker. Just say the word and I'll replace everything."

He was already shaking his head, like Toni knew he would. "I can't accept handouts, Toni. I have a job, I'll pay for my own stuff."

Damn it, he was too fucking noble. "Well, your job kind of depends on your ability to take pictures. And your camera was smushed by a giant lizard. So yes, I'm buying you a camera at the very least."

Again, he was already trying to decline. "No, Toni, all of this is my responsibility, not yours -"

Smack!

"Ow! What the frick was that for?" He rubbed his face indignantly, and Toni was mostly amused that she's managed to slap him (lightly, she swore) without setting off his Spidey-Sense.

"For trying to preach that 'With Great Power' spiel again!" Toni yelled. "It's like your damn catchphrase. Would you quit it with the moral code nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense -"

"I know it's not _nonsense_, but it's plain stupid to take on all that responsibility when you don't _have_ to, Peter! Sure, you've decided it's your job to protect people - but you're not alone. _Spider-Man _doesn't have to work alone, and neither do you." Toni cringed internally at her sentimentality. "_Ugh! _Just let me buy you a damn camera after we figure this all out. It's the least I can do."

Peter blinked at her rapidly. Toni was startled to see redness creep onto his cheeks. "O-okay. So." He cleared his throat, and tried to rub at his suspiciously wet eye but used his right hand and ended up smacking himself with the rock-hard blob of bio-cable. "_Ow_. Sorry. Uh - we won't take another cab, the last one was too nosy. How do you feel about the subway?"

Grateful to completely ignore the moment of raw emotions, Toni made a face. "I haven't used the subway since before you were born, Parker."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you have to take the subway when you were eight?"

"Seven," she corrected him with a shrug. "I was exploring. Is it still full of weirdos? I sat next to someone decked out in a red and black unitard last time." (Total weirdo. The dude had recognized her too, and directed her back to the Hilton her parents were staying at).

Peter frowned. "Was that a joke about my unitard?" He asked guardedly.

She chuckled. "You've finally admitted that you wear a unitard!" Toni pumped her fist in victory. "And no, it wasn't. He had katanas and shit."

_That was a strange day indeed._

"Okay, I can't make any promises, but it's not _that_ weird. At least not during the middle of the day. Try riding the subway at two in the morning after five hours of stopping convenient store robbers. _That's_ when the weirdos really come out," Peter told her knowledgeably as they headed down the stairs.

Toni didn't answer at first, but snatched a baseball cap off of a distracted man as he left the station. Lucky for her, it seemed pretty normal (no smell or suspicious stains) so she fitted it on her head carefully.

Then she went over what Peter had said, and laughed out loud. "Pete, you're the one that rides the subway as Spider-Man in the dead of night," Toni quipped in a low voice. "I'm pretty sure _you're_ the weirdo."

Toni swiped her credit card and paid for the trip. Peter made a face at her, but she rolled her eyes again. "You didn't bring any money, Parker," she reminded him.

He bristled in discomfort as Toni scanned the map for the right line. "Yeah but still. You shouldn't pay for everything."

It was odd, knowing that this was something that Peter felt so strongly about. Toni couldn't think of many principles that she stuck to so stubbornly, besides her 'I am always right' mantra and her irrevocable belief in the multiverse theory.

"Well, you can pay me back in other ways. I certainly don't need money." She suggested, just as the train pulled into the station. With trepidation, she and Peter stepped onto the train.

Nervously, Toni yanked her baseball cap down farther, and they maneuvered their way onto the carriage. Shit, it was crowded.

Toni didn't like crowds. Nope, not at all. She flinched as strangers breathed on her and bumped into her - nope she was not doing this.

"Hey, St - er - To - _Natasha_, are you okay?" Peter asked her, fumbling over her many names.

Toni cracked a smile. "Not in the slightest," she replied, her voice about two octaves higher. She looked away, not wanting to see the apologetic look Parker was giving her.

Letting her eyes wander, Toni scanned the crowd. A brunette trying to send a text (_seriously?)_, an elderly man talking to a trio of boys that shared his red hair (_where's Meredith?_), a sketchy guy in a brown trench coat and baseball cap (_is he a mutant?_), and a - _wait. _

She squinted. Yep. _Blue_.

On the subway, no one gave a flying fuck if you were blue, a celebrity, or bound by the hand to another person. Toni decided right then and there that she liked this form of transportation.

"_Awesome_," Toni muttered, and started towards him. She forgot about Peter for about three steps, and then the poor kid smacked into a pole.

"Ow! Jeez, T - _Nat_. Would you quit it?"

Toni didn't apologize, but gestured wildly in the blue man's direction. Peter couldn't see the man, but he followed after her anyway with nothing more than an exasperated sigh.

She stopped in front of the man abruptly, with Peter stumbling into her side. Without a word, Toni fished out a small metallic ball and let it fall to the floor noiselessly. Guess now's as good a time as any to see if this thing works, she figured, as the tiny gadget stuck itself to the floor and a red light appeared on its side.

It was basically a rudimentary privacy bubble, and yes, it was inspired by the _Muffliato_ spell from Harry Potter. Within a certain radius, it concealed conversations from eavesdroppers by distorting the sound before it could reach any further than the perimeter.

Feeling confident it worked, Toni simply stared at the blue guy. It took a moment before the man realized he was being watched.

Alarmed, the man's eyes widened. She noted his yellowy eyes, and the thin lines of raised skin visible on his face that made up finely-executed tattoos.

She spoke before he could react. "Those are the coolest tattoos I've ever seen, bro," Toni grinned. "No joke."

He opened his mouth - _whoa he has fangs too! _\- and then closed it, unsure of what to say.

The train stopped, and Toni thanked some higher power because most of its occupants got off and were not replaced by more sheep. Toni sighed in relief and sunk into the seat beside the blue guy.

"I'm Toni," she offered her right hand. The man's eyes merely traveled to her left hand, though, where it was trapped with Peter's.

Staunchly, Toni waited. And after a moment the man shook hands with her delicately, using his three-fingers limb.

"_Kurt_," he said quietly, his accent thick.

Toni lit up. "_Deutsch? Ich spreche Deutsch!"_ she exclaimed.

Kurt's tawny eyes brightened considerably. "_Es ist schön zu hören, dass jemand meine Sprache sprechen."_

Peter huffed and plopped down beside Toni. "Um, hi Kurt. I'm Peter and I don't speak German."

"Oh! Apologies, Peter. It is just so nice to hear my native tongue." He grinned at Toni and she thought it looked kind of terrifying, but in an exciting way. "And it is even nicer to meet someone so... friendly."

"I'd use the term '_benevolent goddess_' but 'friendly' works too." Toni raised her chin in pride. Peter snorted.

"Isn't that what the crazy alien said in Stuttgart?" Peter asked suspiciously.

Toni shushed him. "So, Kurt - I'm gonna go ahead and assume you're a mutant, if you don't mind me doing so."

Kurt just nodded, shooting Toni a wary look. She looked at him expectantly.

"Uh..."

"Come on. Now I have to know," she pleaded.

"I... I can _teleport_." His accent was thicker on the last word.

"Anywhere?" Toni inquired immediately.

"As long as I can see where I'm going," he corrected. "But, in essence, yes."

Her jaw dropped. Beside Toni, Peter's jaw had dropped as well. Kurt looked between them nervously.

"Ah...?"

"It's official. Kurt's got me beat." Toni declared, glancing at Peter. "Teleportation trumps everything I've got."

Kurt looked at them curiously. "And what do you have?" He asked Toni astonishment.

"Iron Man," she told him in earnest. Peter made a choking sound.

"I thought we were trying to lay low!" He hissed to her.

"I am. No one can hear us." She indicated the successful sound distorter (the _Muffliato_) at their feet. "I'm Iron Man, as I've just told you. I can do that."

Kurt looked around in amazement. "That is incredible, Toni!"

"Danke," she smirked. "But like I said, _teleportation?_ That's impressive. And impossible for me, despite how much I can do."

Kurt seemed to glow with the praise. "At home, I am known as the Amazing Nightcrawler," he told them proudly.

"_Nightcrawler?_ You badass." Toni was kind of jealous. The press had yet to come up with a substitute for 'Iron Man' that was even remotely acceptable. "Mutants get the best names," she sighed. "Mystique is a bonafide stripper, but besides that - _Magneto, Storm, Beast_; they're all completely reasonable and bad ass. What do I get? Iron Man. The suit is not iron, and I'm not a man!"

She ranted purposefully. Kurt and Peter were laughing freely now, and Toni grinned at the knowledge she had diffused all the tension.

"She's right," Peter informed Kurt. "Your mutation is groundbreaking."

Kurt smiled, but it seemed a little less sincere. "Yes, well, I'm not sure it's worth all the... _other_ mutations."

Thinking of Bruce and his green counterpart, Toni was about to disagree, but Peter beat her to it. "Loads of people think that the Thing's a freak, that the Hulk's a monster. You can't let that stop you." Toni got the feeling Peter was talking about himself just as much as he was talking about all the other freaks and monsters that saved lives.

Toni let Peter do his thing, basically acting as a motivational speaker. Seriously, Toni felt like she could run the New York Marathon if Peter was around to inspire her.

Kurt took it to heart, though. "You are quite wise for someone so young, Peter," he said kindly. Kurt glanced at their joined hands once more. "Pardon me, but... What happened?" He inquired politely.

"An unfortunate mishap with a very strong substance," Toni shrugged. "We're headed to the Tower to fix it."

Kurt's yellow eyes widened with the same childlike wonder that Peter's had at the mention of the Tower. She never realized the Avengers were so popular. Well, she did, but she didn't know that other people with unusual powers looked up to the team so much... _Hm. That's a topic with a lot of potential. Especially since the Tower's become a symbol for the team. _

"The Avengers Tower? Really?"

Toni nodded. "It's still under construction from the Chitauri, but it's operational, and the R &amp; D department should have what I need."

Kurt nodded, still incredulous at the turn of events. Toni looked up, and realized their stop was next. She peered over Kurt thoughtfully.

"Kurt," she said pensively, "I'm sorry we don't have any time right now, but I'd love to talk with you again." Toni searched her other pocket and produced a translucent business card.

Kurt took it in astonishment. "I would like that too, Toni. It has been wonderful to meet you." He looked at Peter. "And you as well, Peter."

Toni grinned, and rose just as the train grounded to a halt. "Come along, my wise little Padawan. I think they reinstalled the bandsaw in my workshop."

"Why aren't I a Jedi?" Peter's eyebrows rose in concern. "I'm _definitely_ a Jedi."

Toni looked at him inquisitively, "Because you'll be a Jedi when you grow up," she explained offhandedly, wondering why he was so caught up with the Star Wars terminology.

Peter opened his mouth to argue this point, and then it clicked. "I - wait. _Bandsaw? _What bandsaw?"

* * *

**Thought y'all would enjoy some cameos. It's really fun to write them in. **


	3. Namesake - I

**This story takes place during the day leading up to Howard and Maria Stark's death. **

* * *

_Namesake - I _

Natasha stared at her phone, a sneer developing on her face. Mom and Dad were driving down to see her.

_I'm surprised they remembered today's the parent orientation_, Natasha scathed, rolling her eyes at Dad's superficial message.

He still referred to her as '_Nattie_' and Natasha swore to god that if he called her that in public, she'd legally change her name. She wondered what name would suit her? Legally changing her name would be laborious - it needed to be a good one.

She swept out of her dorm, ignoring her 'roommate' because seriously - this chick was not only boring, but really stupid. She hoped that Miranda was the exception, rather than the norm... then again, stupid people threw decent parties. Natasha wouldn't mind a few parties. She'd been to a few, but it was hard to get away with anything with Happy around. (Lucky for her, Happy wouldn't be around at MIT to mother her).

Deciding to take a tour of the grounds (though she'd already been drilled on escape routes and safe areas, courtesy of her patronizing body guard), Natasha stepped outside the freshmen building.

It was August, at midday, and ridiculously warm for Massachusetts. Everyone was outside. Around the freshmen dormitories, parents were bustling around, befriending fellow parents and nagging their kids. There was a lightness to every conversation she passed, even the ones with teary-eyed mothers or fathers intimidating boys with wandering eyes.

She heard the words "I'm so proud of you" more times than she could count. Ugh, it was making her nauseous.

Natasha felt wholly out of place, and grit her teeth instead of acknowledging the reason behind it. Ducking her head down, she escaped the throngs of gooey family time as swiftly as possible.

She wasn't _upset_. She wasn't envious of those kids, because she didn't need her Dad to embarrass her with a 'safe sex' speech, or her Mom to clutch at her shoulder and remind her that a home-cooked meal was just a few hours away. Hell, her parents wouldn't give that to her _anyway_.

So why did she want it so _badly?_

Oh god, she could feel her eyes burning. _It must be allergy season_, Natasha thought, hurriedly swiping away any incriminating evidence as her pace quickened even more to avoid - _WHAM._

She rammed into a metal pole, and bounced off of it like the fifteen-year-old milksop she was. Natasha let out a gasp of surprised pain, and stumbled. She was careening towards the ground, and braced for impact - but then a hand snatched her by the shoulder, and hauled her back to her feet before Natasha knew what had happened

The hand was connected to a man that was - honest to God - _twice_ her size. A foot taller than her measly 5'2" stature, and muscle that added about 170 pounds of pure intimidation. She wasn't sure if she was ogling him or staring up at him in utter fear. (Probably both).

"Thanks," Natasha said, rubbing her arm. She must've been walking faster than she thought, because her arm really _did_ feel as though it had been hit by a metal pillar, though now she realized it was only this buff dude's buff body. The man assessed her in silence with green eyes, and then nodded, releasing her abruptly. He muttered a gravelly response, but Natasha didn't catch it. She wasn't even sure it was English.

Natasha turned away just as the grad student did. She kept walking, but wasn't so careless with her direction anymore. Her arm was throbbing a little too uncomfortably for Natasha to forget about it.

A glance at her watch told her that her parents wouldn't be coming for another two hours.

_Great, I've got three hours to kill_, Toni smirked. She remembered that her body guard had warned her to stay away from certain people or events... and if there was anything that Happy had warned her about, it was frat boys.

Just across the lawn, she spotted five boys sporting similar Greek life shirts. _Perfect_.

* * *

**Part II won't be posted directly after this, sorry!**


	4. Text

Elements #4 – Text

* * *

_Between: __**Padawan **__and Toni Stark_

**i told you not to buy me a camera.**

obviously you didn't open it yet

didya open it?

**wtf an iron man iron?**

ikr? it's great!

**it's called narcissism**

i have high self esteem

**I repeat, narcissism**

oh come on u know its awesome

**u need a better excuse than that. y would u give me an iron?**

it's so u remember me

**while im ironing?**

every time you need to show some class.

**since when do you have class?**

im rich, i have class

**you're a snob, you mean**

i have class

**no you don't**

yes i do!

**classy people don't have irons with their faces on it**

ur just jealous

**of an iron man iron?**

well i don't see any spidey home appliances on the market

**i don't want one**

then send back the iron

**no**

what?

**i can't **

why?

**aunt may likes it**

liar

**no srsly**

im calling bs

**no**

uh huh

**NO**

keep telling urself that

but u know it's cool.

i mean think about it.

i have fans that created an iron in my likeness.

how many people can say THAT?

(i know u can't)

**ok fine it's awesome stfu already!**

* * *

The Iron Man Iron exists, if you were wondering.


	5. Hawkeye

**Hawkeye**

* * *

Monaco, March 2012

They arrived in Monaco a day early. The last time she'd been early for something was when she was born. And even then, she'd given her mother a hard time during birth (according to her old butler, at least).

Not only was Toni early, but Clyde had planned everything out already. So she had nothing to do but kill time. Which would be fine - in fact, Toni was happy to go off and explore the city - except that Clyde was with her.

And now she had a babysitter. He had orchestrated her driver's disappearance and the valet's inability to get her a damn car. She was on total lockdown, stuck at the Raddisson.

With Clyde, the tasty PA. She was tempted to go swimming, just to see if she could get him to take off his shirt.

But, with Toni's luck, it was highly improbable. Plus, she fucking hated water.

So she flopped onto the cushioned lounge chair on the patio, and huffed in frustration. She hadn't brought anything to do, and she was not about to surf the web for the heck of it.

"Clyde, you sure you don't want to go out? It's a beautiful evening."

He didn't look up from the Starkpad he was working from. "You have a brunch to go to tomorrow."

She scowled, and prepared to explain that she could still make it to brunch if she went out bar hopping, but then a sharp pain stifled her response. Toni snapped her jaw shut, and from the corner of her eye she saw Clyde look up.

Rubbing at her neck calmly, Toni sighed as the pain disappeared as quickly as it came. She supposed it would be harder to hide the effects of palladium poisoning if she poisoned her blood further. No alcohol for Toni.

Suddenly, Toni wasn't in the mood for much of anything. I'm going to die, she told herself morosely. Stop trying to expedite the process.

She could stop drinking, right? It wasn't that hard. Yes. For the rest of Toni Stark's brief life, however insignificant a blip it was in time, she would not drink. Easy.

But... she liked drinks. What if someone came up with the perfect Mojito and asked her to test it? What if she was invited to a private tour of the Bacardi factory?

Okay, there are some exceptions. But today, and probably tomorrow at brunch, I'm not going to drink.

Good. Toni sighed, and settled her gaze on the city of Monte Carlo. But now she really wanted a drink, because she was dwelling on the fact that her life was some trivial little grain of sand in the grand scheme of the universe.

"I spy something green," Toni spoke abruptly. She craned her neck to look back at Clyde for his reaction.

He simply looked at her, scanned the view from the patio, and said, "Speed boat, the _Vert de Mer_."

Toni whipped her head back to the boat she'd been staring at in the bay. "Nope, try again," she lied.

Clyde turned to stare at Toni. "It was the boat," he said confidently.

Shit. "Lucky guess," Toni said, disgruntled. She let her eyes flicker around the city again. "I spy something small and red."

Again, Clyde obliged without a hint of protest. "Billboard blonde's ring," he replied in a heartbeat.

Toni's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "I spy a white sail," she countered. He couldn't be that good, all the sails were white -

"The yacht, _Fantôme Sur L'eau_."

Okay, she'd already known there was something serious funky about Bates, but seriously? She didn't realize that Master of I Spy was a thing.

"Bates, what's your deal?" She couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you mean?" He asked coolly.

Too damn cool, he was a cucumber. _That was really weird to say, even in my head, Toni noted immediately_. She shoved the thoughts aside. "I mean you're definitely in the wrong business, Bates. How's your eyesight? You've got the eyesight of a - I don't know, a bird of prey. Or a Mantis shrimp."

"20/20," he answered smoothly, raising an eyebrow.

"So's mine, but I can't pick out the ruby ring of a billboard model from this distance for a game of I Spy," Toni frowned.

Clyde leaned back, staring at Toni with unreadable eyes. "I like playing I Spy," he fibbed. It didn't sound like a lie, but Toni knew it had to be one.

There was absolutely no indication that Clyde had done anything suspicious at all. Obviously, this meant that he was a liar and a fake and probably an assassin that would eventually kill her. Toni predicted it would be by sniper rifle.

"How's your aim?" She asked, interestedly.

Clyde hesitated, before looking at Toni straight in the eye and saying, "I never miss."

She considered this carefully. "What's the longest shot you've ever made?"

"About 2000 meters," Clyde said frankly. Toni's eyes narrowed. She had a feeling that was an understatement, but she let it slide.

"What's the longest shot you've ever made with a marshmallow?"

Clyde had opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself, and chuckled. "Never tried it."

"Huh," Toni said haughtily. "Technically, I'm the better shot then, in this case."

She stared at him, challengingly. Clyde stared right back.

"Are you—?"

"Yes."

"You're on."


	6. Shawarma

**Shawarma**

* * *

It was just an hour after the battle. Loki was in SHIELD custody. Selvig was preparing the tesseract-portal-device-thing that would send the Asgardians back. And Toni wanted shawarma.

They were street-level, watching the quinjet sputter to life and take off with the Asgardian. Toni glanced at the 'team.'

_When did Steve take off the mask? _She wondered, noticing its absence. _When did I start calling him Steve? _That was probably the more important question_._

Clint and Natasha were already patched up, and they now both sported clean gauze on various body parts. For all the punches she'd taken in the past two days, Toni was surprisingly blood-free, save for the small cut above her eyebrow. It had already stopped bleeding, though, so she was good.

Thor looked exactly the same; she could see blood stains on his armor, but no visible wounds. Steve had a gnarly burn mark on his uniform, but damn, he healed really quickly. His exposed (_and rock hard_) abs were unmarred.

And then there was the Hulk, who was standing off to the side, disgruntled but quiet. It was odd for someone so big to be so unobtrusive—she had the feeling that the big guy's appearance would end soon. Toni approached him with a grin.

"Hey big guy!" She exclaimed, promptly ignore the hissed "Toni!" from behind her.

Hulk looked up, and huffed in acknowledgement. "Stark."

Her grin widened. How many people could say that the Hulk knew their name? "Thanks for the save," Toni said.

Hulk exhaled sharply through his nostrils. "Stark is friend." It sounded like an excuse to explain his good behavior.

Toni's eyebrow quirked at the thought. "And Hulk is a hero." The green-eyed stare that followed that statement was surprised and appreciative—or maybe she was reading into it too much. But either way, Toni was certain that there was intelligence to those eyes.

Hulk huffed again, and Toni interpreted it as a scoff. Behind her, she could hear multiple footsteps growing closer. Hulk glanced beyond Toni, and then looked away, unperturbed.

"You don't believe me? Who took down one of those floaty worm things single-handedly?" Toni argued boldly. She turned to her left, seeing Thor out of the corner of her eye. "Even our resident Thunderer couldn't do that!" She gestured to said Thunderer pointedly.

"Aye, friend... Hulk," Thor said gravely, "Lady Stark's words ring with truth."

"Hulk smashed." The green giant replied simply.

"Hulk smashed in the name of _planetary freedom!_" Toni declared, throwing up her arms. "And now Toni is talking like you," she realized, slowly putting her hands down.

Hulk rumbled slowly, (laughing?), before falling to his knees. She supposed Banner was coming back. The green beast peered at Romanoff tiredly.

"Hulk not sorry," he said solemnly. Romanoff stared straight at him, her poker face as perfect as always.

"I figured that," replied Natasha in a clipped voice. A second passed between them, and then Natasha added "_Don't_ do it again."

Toni was floored. Bonnie was one gutsy chick. Hulk must've thought so too, because the green man was rumbling with growly laughter again.

"Red... not bad," Hulk decided, before pausing, looking out into empty air. "Banner... Coming..."

And the Incredible Hulk flopped right over, causing a tremor strong enough to bring down a few unstable structures on the block.

Toni grinned at Romanoff. "Glad we cleared that up, am I right, _Red?_" Bonnie didn't say anything, but Toni got the feeling the assassin was relieved. "Anyone got some pants for him?" She asked, seeing the Hulk's green muscle shrink away.

Clint held up a set of clothes. "Yep, They got Whitley to bring it. Least that idiot's good for something, I always see him goofing off on the Helicarrier," Clint stared at Banner, before setting off to hand over the clothes.

Toni ran a hand through her hair, and winced at the sharp pain that followed. Ugh, the reactor. At least it was working again, but it was damaged. She turned to assess the street—her armor was strewn across it, decorating the dusty rubble with bits of red and gold. _Thor and Steve really got into it, didn't they?_ The armor was everywhere.

If anyone were to take some of that armor, they could try to recreate the suit, or figure out a weakness, or sabotage it—_Aw man, I have to clean up after myself? I probably have to clean up after everyone else too, and the Chitauri...  
_  
"Can I borrow a phone?" Toni asked, looking to Natasha and Clint hopefully. "I need to start making arrangements for the cleanup," she sighed.

Clint, who was helping Banner to his feet, gave her a quizzical look. "SHIELD can handle most of the cleanup, Toni."

Toni frowned. She hadn't considered SHIELD's involvement. "I'm not letting SHIELD anywhere near my armor or my tower," she protested, glancing up at her building sadly. Only the 'A' in 'Stark' had survived. "Huh," Toni remarked.

Clint beamed. "We should rename it for the team!" He suggested brightly.

Toni smiled. "Why don't we talk about it over food? I'm hungry. I know Bruce is hungry—don't lie, Banner, I know everything—and I told you, there's a shawarma joint like two blocks from here."

Romanoff made to protest, but Clint shrugged and said "I'm in. Reindeer Games wasn't all the great with regular meals," he added, noticing the expression on his partner.

"Fine." Natasha said curtly. Toni gave Clint a grateful look.

"Awesome—Cap, Thor, you guys coming or what?" She turned to them challengingly.

Thor shrugged. "I would be honored to feast with my new mortal friends," he declared. "What say you, Captain?"

Steve looked at them all, before pausing at Toni. She gazed back at him hopefully, telling herself that it wouldn't be right without the Captain joining them.

"Sure," he said finally.

Toni clapped her hands together. "Great! I'll even pick up the check."

* * *

She had grossly underestimated the team's hunger and capacity for food. Bruce was eating like the Hulk, Steve and Thor were preparing to hibernate for winter, and Clint—the only normal male at the table—was blatantly exploiting her offer to pay, but Toni couldn't say she was upset.

Team bonding wasn't that bad after all.

"After I reclaimed my powers and my honor, defeating the Destroyer was an easy task. I then returned to Asgard to face my brother, promising the SHIELD brothers that if I were to return, I would return as an ally." Thor paused to stuff his face with meat, and Clint rubbed his chin pensively.

"So what was up with Loki then?" Clint wondered. "This is way before the Chitauri and the tesseract."

"I think that's when he found out he was adopted," Toni suggested. Thor nodded. "As sad as that is for Loki, he _may_ have overreacted."

Natasha leaned back in her chair solemnly. "If he's not your brother, who is he?"

Thor sighed mournfully. "He is the son of Laufey, leader of the Frost Giants in Jotunheim."

There was a collective exclamation of "_What?!"_ that startled the worker behind the counter sweeping away rubble.

"What's a Frost Giant?" Steve asked.

"He's a Frost Giant? _Really_?" said Bruce, disbelieve evident in his tone.

"Frost Giants?" Clint repeated dubiously. "What, do you also have Fire Elves and Mountain Dwarves?"

Toni ignored all of this, and stared at Thor thoughtfully. "So, technically, Loki _will_ inherit a throne? He was adamant about it being his birthright and all."

The blonde Asgardian shook his head. "By the time I returned to Asgard, Loki had murdered his birth father and then turned the Bifrost on Jotunheim—if left open, the Bifrost would destroy everything in its path," he explained.

Her jaw dropped. According to Selvig and Foster's notes, the Einstein-Rosen Bridge that indicated Thor's Bifrost hadn't been recorded in months; it hadn't been used since Thor went back to Asgard… which meant…

"You destroyed it," Clint realized, just as Toni did. "Did you manage to save Jotunheim?"

Thor nodded solemnly. "Much of that realm has been ravaged, but yes, its people are recovering. Loki fell from the Rainbow Bridge just moments after I struck down the Bifrost."

"Fell?" Bruce asked. "Fell where?"

"Into space," Thor replied mournfully. "I thought he had been lost forever, but..."

"Guess he… landed somewhere," Toni finished the thought. She inhaled deeply, and stretched her back over the edge of her metal folding chair_. Ow ow ow everything is sore, Toni, stop moving!_

"Is that a tattoo?" Toni paused, realizing that her shirt had ridden up. She peered at Clint, who was eyeing the side of her abdomen unashamedly from across the table. _Stupid hawk vision. At least no one asked about the reactor,_ she admitted.

"One-one-two-three?" Clint read out loud, and everyone turned to get a look at her ink. Steve was trying not to (but he was anyway), and Thor was staring in blatant curiosity.

Toni rolled her eyes and pulled up her shirt a little farther. "1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55." she corrected.

Most of the team was looking at her in bafflement. Toni turned to her left, expectantly. Bruce cleared his throat. "It's part of the Fibonacci Sequence," he answered, amused. "Which is commonly used in relation to the Golden Ratio because its numbers are the closest rational approximation to it. It's also been applied biologically, in phyllotaxis and the like."

"Basically it's an extraordinary phenomena of perfection," Toni summarized coolly. "And, well, so am I."

Clint sagged in his seat. "I was hoping it was a drunken mistake," he admitted. "I forgot, you're a dweeb."

Toni laughed as she pulled her shirt back down. "Of course, I do have a tattoo I got while drunk, but I don't regret it."

She pulled down her shirt over her left shoulder, and twisted around so he could see her back.

"'James'? As is _James Rhodes?_" Clint read, astonished. "How do you _not_ regret that tattoo? He's dating your former PA now."

Toni snorted. "_We_ never dated. He's my best friend."

"And you guys got matching tattoos?" Clint chortled. Beside him, Natasha looked amused as well, watching Toni.

"I lost a bet. And then a week later, he felt bad about it and got 'Antonia' tattooed on his arm. So yeah, matching tattoos." Toni shrugged. "I also have to name my firstborn after him, but I think he'll let that one slide."

"Maybe you shouldn't gamble, you don't seem very good at it," Bruce commented, picking at his food.

"I wouldn't say that," Toni argued. "I tend to beat all the odds."

"Aye, I would have to agree with that," Thor chortled, raising his mug of coffee towards her before drinking deeply. "You have slipped from the grasp of death many times, for a mortal."

Clint chuckled too. "Your house never does, though," he added teasingly.

Toni raised her eyebrow, but it was Bruce that voiced the question. "What do you mean? Every time Toni escapes death, her house—doesn't?"

The Hawk Man shrugged. "More or less. I've been to _casa de Stark_ more than once—"

"To spy on me, you bastard," Toni muttered.

"—there's a hole that goes through three levels of her house because she didn't land properly—"

"That was the Mark II, it wasn't perfect—" Toni protested.

Clint plowed on. "It's been plastered up, but it happened. The garage is worse," he warned.

Toni searched the table for something to throw at him. "It's a lab, not a garage—"

"She demolished a Lamborghini in there, there's a big 'X' over that parking space now. Again, it was the Mark II. This was before I met her, mind you."

She threw a wad of napkins at Clint, but he caught them without sparing her a glance. "That wasn't escaping death; that was a test run."

Clint shook his head. "Every time you use one of those contraptions, you're inviting death, Stark. Speaking of which, how about the fight between you and Colonel Rhodes at your birthday party?"

"I thought James Rhodes was your closest companion?" Thor queried.

Toni shrugged. "Friends fight all the time."

"Yes," Clint agreed sarcastically, "They wear armored suits and shoot at each other until something explodes—your pool room, in this case."

Again, Toni shrugged. "I never liked swimming anyway." Clint shot her a hard look, which she ignored easily. "Clint and I later took down a few walls for an experiment, but that's the last time my house has been mutilated," she insisted.

The table was silent. Thor gazed at Toni like she was forgetting something important.

"What about... the top floors of your mighty tower, Lady Stark? Were those not your quarters as well?" the alien demigod asked.

Toni couldn't come up with an answer.

Bruce snorted indelicately. "At least you're a billionaire," he smiled.

Natasha hummed from the other side of the table, looking at her nails flippantly. "And a sexy genius philanthropist," she mocked.

That, Toni could take in stride. "Glad you think so, Nat, but you're not my type."

"Everyone's your type." Natasha retorted calmly.

"And I must be yours, considering how much time you've spent with me in small rooms," Toni quipped, grinning when Clint looked up in interest. As did Bruce, Thor and Steve.

"Stark," Romanoff cautioned.

Toni couldn't help but grin. "I really liked your cherry chapstick, babe," Toni drawled, before leaping away from the table when Natasha flung a water bottle at her.

* * *

**I'm having a lot of fun with Toni's innuendos. **

**This definitely should have been in Alloy (the story these drabbles are from), but alas, I rushed through the end of The Avengers in that story, and kind of forgot about it a little. I hope enough people see this drabble, I think it adds some depth to Toni's relationship with Natasha, Clint, and the Hulk. Plus... well, there's also Loki... but I won't say any more.**


	7. Bern

**A/N: This was originally part of chapter 22 from 'Alloy', but seeing that it's five pages long I thought it best to cut it out. But I really liked it, and I think y'all will too, so I put it here instead, rather than delete my work. It kind of gives away a bit of the plot of 'Alloy', but hey—if you're dedicated enough to that story to read the extra stuff I wrote for it, then you've got every right to find out what **_**really**_** happened in Bern (or at least part of it, hah).**

**A/N 2: SPELLING ERRORS. SPELLING ERRORS EVERYWHERE. You all have my humblest apologies. This is unbeta'd. I just went over it again to annihilate as many errors as possible.**

**A/N 3: So... I made this chapter a little more intense than it originally was. Just to stir things up. Toni is a very sexual person in my story. I just don't write it in because I want to keep my stuff T-rated. **

***Toni is sixteen, Killian is in his mid-twenties***

* * *

KILLIAN

Bern, 2004

She had to be the most beautiful girl he'd ever spoken to, hands down. It was most likely that she would also be the most beautiful girl he would _ever_ have the pleasure of holding a conversation with, if his relationship track record was anything to go by. He glanced down at his crutch with muted chagrin.

Killian had come to terms with his disability long ago. It didn't make it any easier. But everyone once in a while, he found someone who was equally accepting—and that made a difference.

He'd never thought that Antonia Stark could make such a difference, but here she was, grinning back at him as she slipped into a hotel room. She had a bodyguard—Happy—trailing behind them, but not once had her chocolate-brown eyes lingered on Killian's crutch.

"Happy, can't you guard the door or something?" Toni complained, rolling her eyes at the burly man.

Mr. Hogan—a tall man who seemed to be emulating someone from a Tarantino movie—shot the heiress a stubborn look, before his eyes landed on Killian with unconcealed suspicion.

Instantly, Killian felt smaller. "I-I wouldn't… I mean-that—" he stuttered out, his words shrinking as Hogan towered over him.

"I'm fine right here, if that's okay with you, sir." Hogan settled himself into a corner of the room with a good view, and then settled a menacing glare on Killian. "Just in case something happens to Ms. Stark."

Killian nodded silently, respecting Hogan's concern. He wasn't here for that. "It's alright," he said seriously. Toni groaned in annoyance, and Killian couldn't help but give the girl an apologetic look. He wasn't sure what to say to her.

"Why don't we make it a proper party and invite Dr. Wu? In case I have a spontaneous myocardial infarction?"

Laughing uncomfortably, Killian wringed his hands. "Well, he's just doing his job—uh—Toni, it's nice of you to bring me… here, where it's quiet enough for us to talk—" He paused to follow Toni as she went farther into the suite. "—but I… what's that?" Killian stopped short at the edge of the living room, and the multitude of plants that dominated it.

Toni just gave him a lazy smile. She was now perched on the armrest of a chair, and suddenly Killian wasn't sure of her sobriety; she swayed slightly to the side, but her eyes... he looked away hastily, almost embarrassed by the intensity of—well, of _her_. She was completely silent, but somehow Killian knew she was asking him to come closer.

He ventured to her side slowly, wringing his hands again. It wasn't like she wanted him like _that_, she was just a girl, just a girl with enough influence to fund his think tank for several decades… Killian hurriedly searched his mind for the pitch he'd prepared—

A small pair of hands slid over his, holding his nervous palms still, interlocking their fingers. Killian looked up, and found her eyes easily, because she was looking directly at him. He forgot his voice somewhere along the way, as well as his think tank.

Her lips quirked into a bright smile, and her eyes shifted over his shoulder for a moment. "What do you know about biochemistry?" she asked flatly.

One hand left his to reach for a notebook. Killian blinked, looking between Toni and the plants, feeling even more out of his element than before. "Biochemistry?" he repeated. "I took a class at some point, but I-I was always better at physics a-and theories…"

Toni raised a single eyebrow, and tilted the open notebook for him to read it. Instead, Killian found his eyes travel to the other side of the room, where Happy was watching him distrustfully.

Quickly, Killian focused his eyes back on the notebook, and begun to read. And then he begun to _really_ read it.

Soon, his brow furrowed. The hand that wasn't still interlocked with Toni's reached up to flip the pages. He never forgot that Toni was there, but the equations scribbled out were complex enough to intrigue him. It was still difficult to concentrate, though. There was a pretty girl pressed against his side. Toni was humming something, and Killian could feel the vibrations from her throat and her warm breath on his cheek.

Sweat beaded on the nape of his neck, but Killian did his best to act normal.

"It'll take time to fully catalogue the DNA sequences necessary to induce a change," Toni was saying, but she was whispering it in his ear, transforming the conversation into a sensual experience, "but with the right formula the subject can regenerate limbs."

"Like… like how a lizard would regrow a tail?" Killian asked, before grimacing at how lame he sounded. He looked past Toni and settled his gaze on the plants.

She shrugged, and he only knew she shrugged because Toni's shoulder was leaning against his while his eyes were stubbornly fixated on green leaves.

"Yeah. That seems to be the general idea. But to be honest, I'm more interested in the side effects." Toni leaned over him—Killian's breath caught—and she drew a finger across an equation and its many side notes.

He looked down at the notebook, and sighed in relief when Toni slipped away from him to get a closer look at the plants. Killian stared after her for just a moment—or rather, until she tossed him an oddly mischievous look that made Killian vehemently remind himself that he didn't think of her like _that_.

"Side effects…" he muttered, trying to think of anything that wasn't Toni Stark. He took off his glasses and read out loud. "_When agitated the subject cannot consistently regulate the increased rate of reaction induced by the current serum. Without regulation the plant…_" Killian frowned at the next sentence, and looked up to ask Toni.

His eyes widened in horror as he saw Toni break off a stem from a ficus. Just as the notes described, the broken end began to fizz with an orange glow. "No no no—Toni!" Forgetting the notebook, Killian shoved himself to his feet—crutch be damned—and caught the young Stark around the waist. He ignored Hogan's shout of warning, tugging Toni away and hoping he didn't harm her in the process.

He didn't know how big of an explosion there would be—or if there would even be one—but he thought it prudent to get them both out of the room, so he did. Toni was small. Though his legs weren't that strong, his arms were. He set her down on the bed and turned away from the plants just as there was a bright flare of yellow and red as the plant exploded.

When Killian opened his eyes, Toni's face was beside his, and they were both breathing heavily on the duvet. He blinked rapidly, and Toni slowly raised her hand to trace around his eye socket curiously.

Being nearsighted, Killian could still see her clearly, and gave her a confused look. Toni shrugged. "You look better without the specs," she said softly.

Her voice was so different from before. It made Killian grin to think that Toni was speaking candidly now. But then, all too quickly, reality caught up to him and Killian took his eyes off of her. The smile vanished. He stood up shakily, and didn't meet her eyes again. He steadied himself by backing into the wall.

At that moment Hogan erupted out of the sitting area—covered in ash—and tackled Toni to the bed again. "STAY DOWN!"

Killian nearly smiled again when Toni tried to convince Hogan it wasn't the end of the world. As alarmed as he was by Hogan's intimidating presence, Killian was grateful. Bodyguards were exceptional mood-killers.

"Are you hurt?" Happy asked Toni brusquely, ignoring his rumpled hair and his askew necktie.

Toni just laughed, patting Happy on the shoulder. "We're good, we're good. Happy—" she leaning closer, and whispered something to her bodyguard. Killian was shocked to see the man blush.

"N-no. I-I-I'm supposed to… You don't think… really?" Hogan looked at Toni meaningfully, and Killian realized that only half of the conversation was verbal. The rest was conveyed through facial expressions deciphered in a way only old friends could manage.

Feeling like an intruder, Killian edged back into the plant room to look for his glasses. The plant, oddly enough, looked perfectly healthy now. The blast radius was clearly visible—but as Killian was stumbling around half-blind, it resembled nothing more than a great grey circle of what he presumed was ash. He took a step into the soot, and heard an unfortunate crunch of glass.

He just had the best luck in life, didn't he?

"You should really invest in come contact lenses, Al," said Toni. Her voice was unexpectedly close, and Killian whirled around to face her.

"Oh! T-Toni, you scared me," he said sheepishly, running a hand through his slightly sweaty hair. "Y-you can call me Killian, actually," he corrected her softly. "Aldrich is a bit old-fashioned."

Toni flashed him a smile. Killian stared back, wondering why someone like Toni Stark would ever smile at someone like him. She was close enough for him to make out the details of her face.

Killian had a very good memory. It was one of his most valuable talents. Except now, because all he could remember was _her_, leaning on his shoulder—_her_, breathing heavily inches from his face. Her, with lips curved into a smile and brown eyes dilated as if—

He shut down that train of thought. Looking for a distraction, Killian's gaze flitted around the room. He wished that Happy would swoop in to glare at him, to remind him why he can't be thinking less-than-pure thoughts about Toni Stark.

But Killian realized, slightly horrified, that Happy was no longer in the suite.

"Wh-what ha-happened to-?"

"Happy's got a crush on the receptionist," Toni said dismissively.

Killian nodded slowly. "Well I guess it's—it's okay with him, then? He knows I wouldn't—I mean we're both…" as he spoke, Toni stepped closer to him. Killian stepped back for each of her strides, until his legs hit the edge of a chair and he toppled into the seat.

She tried to move closer again, and Killian realized he had let this go on for too long. He brought up his hands to catch her shoulders—and forced her to stay still.

When she realized what he was doing, she didn't move.

"I-I didn't come here for—for this, Toni," he said eventually. His grip on her relaxed, and she slid out of his hands swiftly, lingering centimeters from him.

"This could be a lot more fun than whatever you were expecting if you forget about that, Killian." She wasn't exactly frowning, but her eyes were far from smiling. "If you want to, of course."

_Yes_, he thought immediately. The answer was on the tip of his tongue, but Killian still shook his head. "This isn't what either of us want."

Any lingering smile on her lips vanished. Toni observed his face steadily. "You're not doing anything wrong here, Killian," she promised him. "I want you," she insisted.

It wasn't a lie, but Killian didn't believe she was being completely honest anymore. He shook his head, and squeezed his eyes shut. _What am I doing here?_ He wondered, rubbing at his temple.

Toni reached over and pushed his hand away, replacing it with her own. Her fingers were so warm. They were rough from mild burns and cuts, but they felt tender to him. Killian didn't try to stop her when she leaned closer and brought her lips to his with a swiftness he hadn't anticipated.

It wasn't soft or chaste. Her tongue trailed across his lips, almost like an experiment at first, until his tongue explored her mouth. Her fingers sunk into his hair, and he found that his hands had slid from her shoulders to her back, to pull her closer. She slipped into his lap like a cat, pressing closer. They broke apart for half a second, and he breathed in her scent.

Mixed in with the scent of her, however, was the smell of smoke. He'd always imagined Toni Stark as a bit of a grease monkey, unafraid of grime and sweat. But the smoke was from the hotel room, not her.

The smoke...

Her lips were beginning to drift from his lips to his neck, and he stopped her again.

"No," he said, breaking off their kiss. His hands returned to her shoulders, easing her away.

Toni realized what was happening. She released him quickly, stepping away from his seat, and Killian couldn't help but stare at her young, unhappy face. He liked her touch, but more than anything he just wished she'd stop _frowning_.

"Toni, I..." He stood with her, hands still on her shoulders.

She didn't answer, but her eyes were wide and her face was unreadable.

"Toni... You are a-a lovely, brilliant, a-and beautiful girl." Toni continued to frown, and Killian carefully took her hands. "But you're underage, inebriated, and—and we hardly know each other."

He shook his head again, knowing it was wrong to lie to himself or to her. Killian wouldn't deny his attraction to Toni Stark. But as much as he wanted her... "You don't _want_ me."

Her brow furrowed. She crossed her arms, folding in on herself. "I'm not a child. I can make that decision on my own." He didn't doubt her maturity. But it was still a bad idea.

His gaze didn't waver. "Well, I've just made my decision. If you're an adult, then you'll respect it."

At that remark, Toni's expression grew cold. But for once, Killian didn't feel like backing down. "Why'd you even come up here, _Killian?_" she asked him flatly, flopping into the armchair beside his. Her hand rubbed at the bridge of her nose, and her eyes stared straight ahead.

"Because I wanted to talk to you," explained Killian, watching her expression closely as he retook his seat.

Toni scoffed. "Talk? _Talk_? Why the hell would you want to _talk_ to me?"

Killian fumbled with his broken glasses, trying to pick out the sharp pieces and avoid answering until he came up with a response that wasn't embarrassing. "I… well, why not? I told you already, you're—you're brilliant, a-and—and—"

"No need to butter me up, Killian, I'm already feeling warm and fuzzy," she deadpanned.

"I'm not—I'm not trying t-to butter you u-up, Toni. I just… I _want_ to talk to you." And he left it at that. Sure, he wanted to bring up his think tank and the equity he needed to for it, but that could come later. Maybe she'd feel more comfortable talking business once she sobered up a little more. Right now, all he wanted was for Toni to be honest with him.

She was silent for a very long time. Killian tried not to stare again, but he couldn't help but wonder every couple of minutes if she'd fallen asleep or something.

Eventually, Toni replied.

"…So what do you wanna talk about, then?"

Killian sighed in unconcealed relief. She wasn't completely dismissing him after all. "Whatever you want, Toni."

Her lips curled up into a half-smile as she considered this. "Let's start with something simple, then. How would you... theoretically... refine that formula to prevent spontaneous explosions?"

* * *

**I like to think of Toni's relationships in terms of songs. That being said, Killian and Toni is like 'Stay With Me' by Sam Smith. It's not love, but it's something, and it'll never work out. She's also incredibly vulnerable during this event, so Killian's response affected her more than it would if she were older. If you read Alloy, there's a chapter ('The Worst Loneliness') from Toni's POV taking place just before she meets Killian, explaining her state of mind. **


	8. Slow Day

**This takes place just a month or two after Pepper becomes Toni's assistant. Enjoy!**

Slow Day

* * *

PEPPER

It was one of the slow days for Pepper. Most people would equate a slow day with an easy day, but when you worked for Natasha - _Antonia_, she went by Antonia now -Stark, you could not make an assumption that 'most people' would.

A slow day for Ms. Stark's assistant meant that there were no business meetings to attend, no deadlines to meet, no corporate reps to schmooze with. It meant that Pepper had no reason to even talk to Ms. Stark today, beyond ordering lunch and a new blowtorch for her.

More importantly, it meant that Antonia Stark could spend her entire day in the basement, tinkering to her heart's content without a thought to spare for herself or anybody else.

Sometimes, a slow day coincided with Col. Rhodes's visits, and James could coax the heiress out of her cave for a day (or two, if they managed to find a casino).

Pepper would never say a word against Ms. Stark's lifestyle. But there /had/ to be a better way for Ms. Stark to take a break than to go partying.

Again, it wasn't her place to say that. Pepper had tried, more than once, to get Toni out of the lab. It always ended with a dismissal from Ms. Stark, who would humor Pepper for an hour before growing bored of the assistant's nagging.

Pepper knew Ms. Stark had every right to deny her, but she _knew_ Toni. She kind of liked Toni, despite the girl's self-absorbed bravado. And it hurt Pepper to see her refuse help.

Maybe, this time...

_No_.

She would leave the Stark girl alone. This time, Pepper wouldn't pry her way into Ms. Stark's life. God knows it was like opening a can of worms anyway. Even as Pepper reasoned with herself, she felt something tug inside her at the thought of not arguing with her boss today. But she shook off the uncomfortable tug.

Pepper ordered Thai for Toni, and searched online for a high-quality blowtorch.

She sat in the unused living room and looked over Ms. Stark's schedule, color-coding events according to importance.

She went over Toni's bills, pursing her lips at the outrageous withdrawals that Ms. Stark seemed to make on a whim; as sporadic and eccentric as she was.

She made calls, sent money, and typed up apology emails to those whose feathers had been ruffled by the infamous heiress.

That's where Toni, who's ventured out of the lab in a whirl of exhaustion, found her.

"Why are you up here?"

Pepper looked away from her laptop, surprised. "Good afternoon, Ms. Stark."

She stood slowly, feeling small even though she was several inches taller then her boss.

Toni ignored the formality. "You could be doing all that downstairs, why are you up here?"

Pepper didn't understand at first. She was doing her job. She was respecting Toni's wishes. She was avoiding the argument that always ended the same way.

"I didn't want to intrude," Pepper explained, half-heartedly.

Toni snorted. "Intrude? You intrude all the time, badgering me about meetings and people I'm not supposed to insult. What's up?"

Pepper shook her head quickly. "Oh, nothing's wrong, Ms. Stark -"

"So why're up here, Pep?"

"Well," Pepper said haltingly, "It's just a slow day. There's no deadline coming up, or meetings, or anything."

Toni merely looked at her, expressionless. Then her voice grew harsh. "So you thought you could just slack off?"

"What?"

"I haven't seen you all day. How do I know you're not lazing around, doing whatever you please under _my roof?"_

"Lazing around?" Pepper repeated, taken aback. "Are you _joking_?"

The heiress leaned against the wall, and only answered with a cold look. She seemed to be expecting an _apology_.

At that thought, Pepper had had enough. No one had ever accused her _laziness_.

"Ms. Stark there is no one that works harder than me. I-I didn't make it this far at your company by _schmoozing_ my way around at parties, and it wasn't _handed_ to me on a silver platter. I'm here because I fought for it. Ms. Stark, I would _never_ waste your time, or your company's."

Toni had taken her gaze off of Pepper to wander the room, touching little things like paperweights and decorative pieces as Pepper spoke. Now, Toni had her gaze settled firmly on a small ceramic bird, which she twirled between her fingers unconsciously.

Pepper wasn't perturbed, she knew that Toni couldn't keep her hands still for very long, but she was still irked that the heiress wouldn't even look up at her. She wasn't apologetic for what she'd insinuated about the heiress, only angry.

"So... Then what _is _it, then?" Toni asked, her voice much softer than Pepper's. Her eyes didn't leave the ceramic piece in her hands.

Pepper huffed, still a bit frustrated. "What's _what_, Ms. Stark? I don't understand."

"Why're you staying up here to do your work while I'm _downstairs_?" Toni asked, her tone somewhere between exasperated and demanding. She held out her hands, gesturing to the room at large. "There's absolutely _nothing_ in this room that's important, or imperative, o-or even mildly interesting."

Toni set the porcelain bird on a shelf carelessly. She looked up at Pepper, searching the assistant's face for a clue. "Or am _I_ just wasting _your_ time, Ms. Potts?"

The silence hung between them, holding Pepper in place - but not Toni. Toni could never be still for that long. With a self-deprecating kind of scoff, the heiress whirled around, unwilling to let Pepper see her affected look.

It was only then that Pepper figured it out.

She had never pried her way in Toni Stark's life. Their arguments weren't futile, her nagging wasn't unwelcome. She didn't bore her boss, and though Pepper often intruded, it was never something she'd been reprimanded for.

Toni _liked_ Pepper, despite how much they clashed. In fact, Pepper would wager that Toni liked her _because_ they clashed so often, on so many different levels.

Pepper didn't notice the tears in her eyes, or the silly smile on her face, until Toni turned around and immediately recoiled.

"What the hell's _wrong_ with you today, Pep? Your face is leaking, and you're grinning. Not a good combo, you remind me of Heather after she found out about me and Wendell." Toni rubbed her arm unconsciously, no doubt remembering the claw marks that woman had left.

Pepper sniffled, and apologized for her outburst. "I guess I'm a little emotional today."

Toni groaned. "Is it that time of the month? Want Motrin? Naproxen? Just - here." She placed a crumpled, greasy rag in Pepper's hand. "There's a few clean spots, use that. Your mascara's running a little. Jeez, you're still crying. Okay... I'm sorry. _There_. Do you feel better yet?"

The worry in Toni's voice made Pepper laugh, but it came out like a hiccuping sob, which only made Toni more frantic.

"Oh, _Toni_." She embraced the girl tightly.

Toni was stiff for the entire moment, but she patted Pepper on the shoulder and offered her a timid smile once released from Pepper's arms. "Did you get that out of your system?" Pepper simply nodded. Toni gave a sigh of relief. "Great. You look like a raccoon, but great."

"Toni!" Pepper protested, pushing her lightly. "Is it really that bad?"

The younger woman didn't answer at first.

"...It's a slow day, Pep. Who cares what you look like?"

Pepper nodded slowly, trying to absorb this new perspective on slow days. She kind of liked it, actually.

As the two of them returned to Toni's lab, Pepper caught a glimpse of her raccoon eyes in the glass wall.

_I really _do_ look like Mrs. Rand... Ugh, thank god for slow days._

* * *

**Anyone catch that reference? I know Steve wouldn't, ha ha. I'll make it easy for ya: Wendell and Heather Rand are the parents of Daniel Rand, aka Iron Fist. they have a big, successful corporations called Rand Industries, so I figured they'd be the kind of people that Toni Stark rubs shoulders with. And, in case you're wondering, Toni probably didn't sleep with Iron Fist's dad, just flirted inappropriately. Heather's just territorial. **

**(Not sure why I out so much effort into that backstory. They're probably not going to come up again anytime soon.) **


	9. Namesake - II

**So. This gets pretty dark... I don't know much about triggers, but this is probably the closest I've come to writing something that needs to be labelled with a warning beyond language. It's also a bit of a set up for the next-next story arc of Alloy (yes, I think THAT far ahead). Anyways, this is kind of an important chapter, and I'll probably excerpt this for Alloy, so if I'd read this. Not that I'm biased or anything. **

* * *

**Namesake - Part II**

Natasha strolled into the courtyard, flexing her arm gently. That brick wall of a grad student had some serious muscle. Natasha checked the damage - _oh, damn._ There was a bruise, blossoming impressively from her bicep to mid forearm.

Natasha wished she'd brought a jacket; it was a gnarly bruise... Happy would be freaking out right about now.

She ruminated on how pitiful that was - that her body guard, who was paid to keep her safe, cared more about Natasha's health than anyone else she knew.

Jesus, she was so whiney. _l'm Natasha Antonia Stark, sole heir to the entire Stark fortune and future CEO of Stark Industries_. She had absolutely no reason to complain about her life, her life was fucking perfect.

_Yet I hate it._

Natasha stuffed her thoughts aside, and replaced it with a friendly smile so she could meet the frat boys she'd seen.

Before she could introduce herself to the handful of boys sitting under a tree, someone else noticed her.

"Shit, what happened to you?" He exclaimed. Natasha looked up. It was an upperclassman, though he wasn't nearly as muscular as that grad student. He looked to be around twenty-one, and his eyes traveled the length of her arm with concern glittering in then. He wasn't very built, but that didn't mean he wasn't attractive in his own right.

"Need some ice? We've got a cooler."

He was another frat boy, if his greek life shirt was anything to go by. Happy would've hustled her back to the dorms by now.

But, Happy wasn't here, Natasha's arm was really annoying her, and, well - he was kind of hot. She followed him through the crowd, trying to play it cool (Starks don't fawn over attractive people, they were the attractive people).

Lo and behold, he was a frat boy - and his fraternity had an overabundance of hot college boys, so Natasha decided to pass on Happy's advice for the day. They had a barbecue, and were helping set up for a concert.

Food and music? Natasha joined the guys without a second thought.

The upperclassman came back with a Ziploc full of ice, and Natasha beamed. "Thanks - who's performing?" She nodded her head towards the stage, and pressed the ice pack against her arm.

He grinned, and his hazel eyes seemed to glitter again. He had really nice eyes. And a nice everything else, actually. Natasha was beginning to blush, just seeing him smile at her. "Tom, Jake and Quinn - they're part of my fraternity. Don't think they have a band name."

He beckoned her closer to the group of students, and Natasha followed, fearlessly grinning at anyone that noticed her. "They any good?" She asked.

The upperclassman chuckled. "Nope. But no one cares. By the time they start playing, most of us are buzzed and cheer 'em on anyway." He smiled at her again. "I'm Oliver."

Ah. He expected her name now. She was somewhat a celebrity already, but mostly just mentioned as Howard Stark's genius daughter. Even so, she'd been in that papers for getting into MIT at fifteen, and Oliver was bound to connect the dots if she said her name (if he hadn't already).

She hadn't really planned on befriending Oliver. Natasha just thought it was fun to pass the time with a college student that didn't realize she was too young, that didn't realize her family had boatloads of money...

"I'm Antonia," Natasha replied, the half-lie slipping off her tongue easily. "But call me Toni," she added, a friendly smile making its way onto her face.

Oliver smiled back again, pleased with her acquiescence. "Welcome to MIT, Toni." He slung an arm around her, mindful of her bruise, and took her around to meet his friends.

A platinum blonde boy pulled off his sunglasses as Natasha and Oliver approached him. He grinned at them happily. "Hey, Governor! Who's your friend?"

Oliver laughed, and caught Natasha's curious look. He shrugged nonchalantly. "My dad's a governor, so naturally, I'm the Governor." He rolled his eyes at his blonde friend. "That's Dean, our resident dumb blonde."

"I heard that!"

Oliver ignored Dean, and so did Natasha. She quirked an eyebrow at Oliver. "Governor Stern, from Pennsylvania," she realized. "He's running for Senator, isn't he? Best of luck."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, before he schooled his expression into a more subdued look of approval. "Thanks. I have to admit, half of the girls around here don't even know where Pennsylvania is."

It was obviously an exaggeration (they were at MIT for Christ's sake) and Natasha gave him a mock-reproachful look. "Well, I'm not like other girls, am I?" She pointed out boldly.

His eyes travelled up and down her figure quickly. With his lips turned upwards in a pleased smile, Oliver nodded. "No, you're much more interesting."

Natasha felt heat creep up to her cheeks at the look in his eyes. It wasn't a look she was used to, but it was thrilling.

She responded with a smile tugging at her lips, before turning away. "Come on - I've decided that you make an excellent host."

Oliver bowed subserviently, and led the way. They stopped in front of two dark skinned, older students that were flipping burgers. Well, one of them was cooking, while the younger man tried eating a burger that was too hot.

"And here, we can observe the Wilson brothers in their natural habitat. Notice how one brother is the superior food-gatherer and the other, the superior glutton."

The younger brother threw a crumpled napkin at Oliver. "I'm not fat," he protested. "You know I'm shipping out soon, Stern, when's the next time I'll get an American cheeseburger?" He griped.

"Toni, Wilson brothers. Wilsons, meet Toni." Oliver introduced them simply. "Sammy here's not a student. Apparently he's dumber than Dean, 'cause he joined the army."

"Basic Training starts in two months," Sam added, wiping his hands thoroughly before extending one to Natasha. She shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you. Toni, right?" he looked over her carefully, before his eyes lit up in puzzled recognition.

Oh great, a frat boy that followed E! News. Natasha had only been featured on it like twice, but it was enough coverage to shake up her private life.

"Nice to meet you too, Sam." She said quickly, before he could get another word out. She shook her head sharply, hoping he wouldn't say anything. "I'm a freshman, just moved into my dorm today."

Sam nodded, both to her response and her unasked request. "What are you studying?" He asked, though if he knew who she was, the question was unnecessary.

"Material Science and Engineering," Natasha answered truthfully. "Or, possibly Mechanical Engineering."

He nodded again, before snorting and shaking his head. "I don't know much about engineering, but I know it's tough." Sam shrugged. "I don't envy you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "That's a first. I know people that would kill to be in my position."

Sam looked at her, a look of admiration crossing his face. "I think a lot of people don't realize how hard that position must be." He wasn't trying to sympathize with her, or act like he truly understood what being a Stark entailed, but Natasha found that liked him all the same because Sam Wilson _'_her.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, and was almost surprised by how honest her gratitude was. "So. Basic Training. For the army?"

"Air Force." He grinned his excitement. "I got into this program there... But if I told you about it, I'd have to kill you." He put on a solemn face, but couldn't hold it for very long.

"I hope you're not trying to be in some kind of special ops. You're too goofy, bro." The other Wilson strolled over, and shook Natasha's hand. "I'm George."

"Toni. What're you majoring in?"

Sam laughed. "He's got no fucking idea."

George shot him an irritated look. "Least I got options. You're the one that's skipping the college experience."

"I made up my mind a long time ago."

* * *

Four hours had passed since Natasha had introduced herself to Oliver Stern. She hadn't realized it until she'd glanced at her watch, and remembered that her parents were supposed to be visiting.

The concert hadn't lasted long - on campus, anyway. Oliver had confided in her that the real party was a few miles away. Three hours ago, Natasha had piled into Dean's pick up truck with the rest of their group, and drove to a bigger outdoor stage, where a different band was already playing.

The concert was still in full-swing, meaning that the bass was loud, the people had amassed into a sea of movement, and the alcohol was flowing strong.

She couldn't wait to tell Howard all about it. Natasha-no, Toni, she was Toni now-could already see her old man growing red in the face, teeth gnashing as held back his disapproval. Or maybe she'd catch him in private, where he didn't have to worry about his image, and he'd rage at her so loudly that people would think she'd put him on speakerphone.

Edging away from the people she knew, Toni was halted by Oliver, who'd caught her arm and was mouthing 'where are you going?' at her. She yelled at Oliver until he seemed to understand she would be back soon.

Getting out of the crowd took much skill. It was easiest when everyone was moving in synch, bodies turning and touching in a pre-established wave, instructed by the beat of drums and wind instruments. She almost didn't want to leave. It was warm and freeing and natural...

Howard was going to be so pissed. Natasha would feel ashamed, but Toni was glad, glad enough that she was almost looking forward to calling him, in the midst of this, just so he could hear the music in the background and the laughter between her 'apologies'.

She made it to the closest empty (but well-lit) alleyway, where it was quiet enough for her to make a call and actually hear it. Her fingers clumsily searched her jacket pockets while Toni looked up, observing the purple-orange sky with glassy eyes and a lazy smile.

Her phone wasn't in the appropriate pocket, and the heels she wore were testing her sobriety. She looked down at herself, trying to make sense of why she had been looking for her phone in the first place.

She didn't hear the man wolf-whistle at her, or his friend's accusation that he 'didn't have the balls' to go over and talk to her.

She didn't notice him, actually, until he was right up in her face - young, grinning, not very attractive, and strong. He was holding her by the elbow.

When did that happen?

"No thanks," Toni said, to whatever he'd suggested to her. He didn't notice her dismissal, so she yanked her arm away.

The next thing she knew, her head was spinning, a tender spot on the back of her skull aching - Natasha opened her eyes to dark blue ones, dilated and confident and strangely intent on her.

Both of her arms were held in one of his.

He'd shoved her against the wall, that's why her head was spinning...

Oh no.

"Get off me, you fucking perv." She thrashed, and all he did was slap a hand over her mouth. Natasha kneed him in the crotch, and slid away, but she could hardly see straight.

But she had to get away.

Get away.

Now.

NOW.

Natasha turned, and felt a tug on her shirt. Then a hand on her waist, dragging her down. As if he wasn't willing to go down without taking her down too. And then she felt concrete, slamming hard onto her back. Tears sprung to her eyes at the harsh meeting.

The man returned to her sight, hovering over her.

For a second, all she could think of was how he was blocking out her purple-orange sky. She shook away the thought, but knew it wasn't going to leave her head anytime soon. Natasha gasped in pain, and kicked at the man, but his body weight was on her now.

He was too heavy. Her purple sky, she wanted it back.

Hands on her wrists. Oh God, he was laughing, he was smirking and he was pressed up against her.

Then it was gone.

How was he gone?

Natasha heard a scream. Or heard her own scream. Either way, she scrambled away, grimacing at the throbbing of her head. It hurt to move so quickly, so she sat up instead; waiting for her vision to clear, for her heart to stop fluttering. Nothing touched her now, dragged her down, so Natasha told herself that she was safe for the moment.

When she had calmed down, she checked over her body, assured herself she hasn't been touched. Her head felt raw, as did her elbows and back, but nothing else. She held up her hands to the light of the darkening sky. Besides a few scratches, she was unharmed. Besides her stuttering heart and tender skull, she was fine.

A shadow emerged, shrouding her hands.

No.

The man was hovering over her again.

No. God, no.

She screamed.

He lunged towards her, pulled her to her feet; Natasha squeezed her eyes shut and attacked, clawed at the arm around her waist, punched at the chest too close to her own, shoved and pushed and tried to yell for help but he put a knife to her throat and the plea died with the delicate touch of cold metal.

Natasha was upright now, her back to him. He was holding her in place, an arm around her waist and another across her shoulders. The knife was gone already. Had she imagined it? Either way she kept struggling. Silently, viciously, she clawed.

He didn't have to do a thing for her efforts to be futile. It was almost demeaning. She was useless. He had complete power over her, and it absolutely horrified Natasha that this was happening.

And yet...

It occurred to her that she was no longer in pain. He wasn't grabbing at her, just holding her. He wasn't pressing her into concrete, or pulling at her clothes.

Actually, he wasn't doing anything at all.

It prolonged this moment, maddeningly so.

Natasha didn't know what to make of it. She kept thrashing, afraid that something would happen as soon as she gave up.

It was like he was waiting.

Maybe...

She didn't know what to do. She was already so exhausted.

He continued to wait.

Her predicament was feeling less and less like a sexual assault, and more like an intimate embrace by a cold, cold statue that would move only when she stopped. Her hands were resisting his forearms, but it did nothing. Natasha didn't know how long she could keep up with him, trying (vainly) to pry his arms away.

She didn't understand. She didn't like this. Maybe she should stop. He would overpower her, there was no way for her to win this, and... and...

_Some women say that it's easier to let it happen,_ Natasha thought, the voice small even in her head. _If you let it happen, then at least it'll hurt less..._

She hated that option. But he just kept waiting. She wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

Her resolve was slipping out of her. _This won't end without me hurting, anyway._

Natasha felt her fingers relax, her hands tire, and finally, her arms fell away from his to hang loosely at her sides.

Only then did the man move again, just as she'd suspected.

He released her so quickly that Natasha stumbled, nearly to the ground again, but his arm shot out like a viper and steadied her, brought her too close for her to escape. She was facing him now.

His eyes were sharp. They focused on her, and her alone, with a look of austere determination that spoke of something very, very dark..

But his eyes were _green._

Her attacker had blue eyes.

But his were green. She _knew_ these eyes.

He was that grad student that had bumped into her, just a few hours ago.

Though her head felt a little fuzzy from the drinks, adrenaline was burning away the haze. And she realized that he wasn't some grad student.

Natasha's gaze wandered to the right, where the ground was stained darkly. Her attacker had had blue eyes, not green. There was a man on the pavement, outlined in a red, red puddle.

"Is he-?"

"No." he replied.

It didn't matter that he wasn't a grad student. It didn't matter that he'd trapped her in his arms and ignored her struggling. It didn't matter that she'd seen something indescribably dark in his eyes just moments ago.

Suddenly, it was Natasha who was grabbing at him, her savior. Her breath was ragged, and her eyes were stinging, but she was alive and unharmed because this stranger just saved her. She found herself folding into his arms, pulling at his shirt, bowing her head against his chest.

He was even more muscular than she'd thought, but for now, Natasha let it comfort her. Because that man... The man that was now unconscious on the concrete...

Natasha searched for her voice. "H-he was... going to...?"

"Yes." The man's voice was not in any way distinctive, but his conviction struck some kind of hysterical chord it her.

Teeth clenched, Natasha let out a small sob.

The man was still rigid beneath her, so she released him and stepped back, crossing her arms tightly.

She rubbed away the tears, and appraised the man. He was scarier than her attacker, taller and broader. His hair was dark, and brushed at his shoulder. He stretched a hand out, and ushered her forward.

Natasha let him lead her, but she wasn't sure she wanted to rejoin the crowd now. The adrenaline had cleared her head too much to enjoy the rest of the evening.

"I'm Natasha," she told him, feeling that her nickname was nothing more than a stupid little thing she'd thought up to annoy Howard. A mask, a phase of adolescent rebellion, a gilded version of the Stark life... "Thank you for saving me."

No response.

"I'm serious." She slowed down, turned to look into those green pools again, with as much determination she could muster at a time like this. "You saved me-"

"Don't."

Natasha tried to read his face, and failed. "Why?"

He didn't respond.

Maybe he didn't want to be thanked. Natasha would respect that.

"What's your name?"

He looked down at her, expressionlessly, and then shook his head.

Natasha chewed on her bottom lip, tasting blood from where she'd bit her skin at some point. She looked up at the man.

"You're... not a student, are you?"

He didn't answer that either, but opted to look directly into her eyes, and that was enough.

"Right. That much is pretty obvious." Natasha admitted, rubbing her arm as they picked up their pace. She would have more bruises in the morning to accompany the one she had gotten from him a few hours ago. Natasha glanced, somewhat accusingly, at the man's arm.

She stumbled, but caught herself without the assistance of the man. "Your arm," Natasha said softly.

He slowed down first, this time. Natasha stopped. They stood face to face again, and the crowd's cheers were tuned down to white noise in Natasha's right ear.

Her eyes were still glued to his left arm. It was mostly concealed by the dark sleeve of his shirt, and a dark glove to match, but sometime - presumably during his fight with Natasha's attacker - the hem of his sleeve had pulled above his wrist.

And a slice of silvery metal closed the gap between shirt and glove. The sun had already set, so his wrist gleamed with moonlight instead.

He tugged down his sleeve roughly. Natasha peered up at him."It must extend all the way to your shoulder," she stated, recalling how it felt to bump into him. She looked up, hoping for an answer. He stared, but his gaze wasn't as sharp anymore. When he spoke, it was barely audible.

"Yes."

For some reason, his response made Natasha sad. Tears pricked at her eyes again, taunting her willpower. She bit her lip again, wishing she could get a hold of herself, and refused to meet his eyes. "Does it hurt?" She asked, her voice small, matching his.

"Not anymore," he answered. Natasha risked one last glance at his face. He was staring at her, of course, but he looked more inquisitive than neutral. He didn't say anything.

Natasha wanted to ask more, but before she could say anything, someone called for her.

"TONI!"

She whirled around.

Oliver.

He had a strange look on his face. Natasha rubbed at her eyes, eradicating the threat of tears, and turned to the man.

But he was gone.

Natasha wasn't surprised.

In a way, she thought that it was kind of fitting. She sighed, and greeted Oliver as normally as she could

"Hey! Sorry I left." She remembered why she'd left now. "I still haven't found my phone..." Natasha fumbled through her pockets again, until Oliver carefully placed a hand on hers.

He caught her gaze, a flash of sadness in his eyes. "Natasha," he said her first name. She was dismayed, but not totally caught off-guard. Sam had spilled the beans after three beers. "The dean is looking for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Dean can wait, whatever nickname he's thought of isn't any better than 'Toni'."

But Oliver was shaking his head. "No, not him, I mean the dean of the _school_. Natasha, you need to see him."

Natasha's eyes widened. "Why? I haven't even been here a full day yet."

His mouth pressed into a thin line. "I said I'd go with you. It's about your parents, Natasha. Er -Toni."

"Natasha's fine," she said, staring at Oliver. He was looking at her funny. She didn't ask any questions, choosing to let Oliver lead her away from the crowd instead.

Oliver was silent for the car ride, entertaining Natasha with long looks and several almost-words that never made it past his lips.

Even then, Oliver's silence was for naught. Happy called, for the eighteenth time, just as Natasha left stepped up the stairs to the administrative building.

She was relieved. She'd been starting to think she's lost her Starkphone… Actually, that would've been great. It was a prototype, and Howard was very fond of it.

_"Ms. Stark! Thank God you answered."_

Natasha rolled her eyes. "I don't know who that is, Mr. Hogan. May I speak to Happy?"

She heard his sigh. _"Tasha..."_ She smiled a little. _"Something's happened."_

There was no way to mistake his tone. Natasha's buzz had been flushed away from her adrenaline.

"What's wrong, Hap?"

_"I've already spoken to the dean, I know this should be done in person but I needed to tell you myself, and I'm still in the hospital -"_

"Hospital? Jesus, Hap. Are you okay? Where are you?"

He never made it to her campus...

_"I'm fine, Tasha, I've just got a few scrapes. There was an accident on the way to Cambridge."_

Her heart missed another beat. Happy was in the hospital, the dean of the school wanted to see her; Oliver's sad countenance was nothing unexpected.

She didn't speak until the silence had lasted for so long that Happy asked if she was still on the line.

"Howard and Maria," she finally said. A sense of inevitability had already crept into her. She was prepared, when he gave her the news, sinking down on the front steps of the administrative building to be left alone.

"They're gone, Tasha."

It didn't matter that she had already come to that conclusion. Natasha Stark melted into the floor all the same.

Blue eyes flashed in front of her, wild and indiscriminately lustful. Then green, steady, and terrifying in their own right. They pooled into a coming wave.

And then she thought of Howard's brown eyes, eyes she'd inherited. They were glassy and bored and perpetually unimpressed. Maria's, hazel and perfect, mirrored them. Their expectations rose up to Natasha's mind like a great flood.

And when her emotions crested, it wasn't grief that encompassed her, but anger and confusion so overpowering that Natasha was washed away like a sandcastle.

She hated Natasha. Nattie. Tasha. _Natasha Antonia Stark_. Stark Heiress. Stark Genius. _Stark's Little Girl._ Howard's Girl. _Howard,_ it always came back to Howard.

Fuck Howard, he was dead. Fuck Natasha, _she_ was dead too.

After a good several minutes, her crying had subsided. She figured she should discuss her situation with the dean, and talk to Happy again.

She rose to her feet.

But it wasn't Natasha Stark that wiped away her tears and went to speak to the dean about getting home for the funeral.

It was Toni Stark.

Toni could be whatever _the fuck_ she wanted to be.

Call it a petty rebellion if you want to. It didn't change the fact that Toni Stark was stronger than Natasha could ever dream of being.

And she was here to stay.


	10. Reds and Blues

Elements

**Reds and Blues**

* * *

STEVE

Though he had actually asked her to help Nightcrawler to safety, Steve could admit to himself that he was happy that it was Rhodey that left with the mutant in her stead. It left Steve alone with Toni for the first time in what felt like ages, and he was relieved for the first time in just as long. In reality, it had only been a few days, but he'd been worrying about this genius woman so much that seeing her alive and knowing that the threat had finally, finally passed…well, he had never felt so content before.

In the months following the Manhattan invasion, Steve had been fine. He worked with SHIELD whenever Natasha and Clint were forthcoming about their mission objectives. He learned about what had happened in the seventy years he'd skipped. He even traveled a little around the country on his bike. He struggled with his memories, and often felt distrustful of SHIELD, but he coped well enough.

But then Toni had stumbled out of that bar, drunk, and confessed her torments to him. Then he started talking to her AI, a being that helped him understand the modern world with impressive ease, as well as understand Toni Stark, to an extent. He'd settled on leaving her alone months ago, and seeing her so unlike herself just strengthened his resolve to let her work through her problems, respect her space...

And he'd done exactly that, until she decided to barged into his gym at three in the morning and ask for his help.

To her surprise, Steve had listened to her tale, and agreed to help. But if he was being honest with himself, Steve hadn't opposed her at all since she flew into that portal and came back, barely alive. He'd thought of his acquiescence as respect at first, but then again, he'd thought the same about Agent Carter. But despite not even seeing her face for months, when Toni asked him to help one of her friends, he hadn't refused.

When they found out about the Mandarin, she didn't ask anything of him. He just… inserted himself into her plans, because he wanted to be a part of it.

Toni was looking at him now, smiling sadly, sighing tiredly, and eyeing him with gratitude.

Steve was just grateful that she'd let him in. Only now, seeing her expression, did Steve figure out that he wanted to a part of Toni Stark's life.

"That's a bad burn," she commented, her brown eyes drifting to his shoulder. "I know you heal fast, but... I think Coulson's got a doctor on his floating party bus... and that's a bad burn, y'know."

It was clear what she was suggesting, but Steve felt his mouth curl into a smile at her inability to articulate her concern. He knew she didn't want to give up her callous reputation. What amused him the most was that she was under the impression that no one knew she cared about everyone, even when there were at least ten people in Miami that had come because Toni Stark had been in trouble.

She assumed that she was alone, when she was the most popular person he knew.

Toni was still eyeing his burn, so he humored her. Steve hardly felt it, but glanced at his shoulder to assess the injury. "I'll be right as rain by tonight," he admitted.

He noticed (again) that she was wearing very little clothing, but seeing that Toni was completely unperturbed by it, Steve didn't say anything. Mostly, he just scanned her body for injuries, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the serum she'd taken had actually healed all her wounds.

Steve froze, realizing that there was one wound that hadn't exactly been healed. He couldn't pull his eyes away - until Toni crossed her arms and said, with a surprising lack of disdain or mockery, "My eyes are up here, soldier."

He was too shocked to be embarrassed, even though he quickly pulled his gaze up to Toni's face.

Her humor melted away, replaced by a concern stare. "What? What's wrong?"

Steve didn't answer, but he was still witness to the moment she realized he'd been staring at her reactor; her eyebrows twitched upward, but with a flutter of blinking she schooled her expression until the only indication of her solemness was how she gnawed on her bottom lip.

She obviously didn't want to see the damage for herself, because her eyes were glued to Steve's. Calculating the severity through his wordless assessment.

But how the heck was he supposed to know if the reactor was working or not? The soldier in him knew nothing of that kind of technology, and the artist in him knew next to nothing: all he could assess was that some of Killian's serum had leaked into the glowy part of Toni's arc reactor.

Steve shook his head, stepping closer to Toni and trying to keep his smile genuine. "Toni," he said emphatically, bringing up his hands to curl around hers. She'd begun to clutch at the rim of her machinery, though her eyes continued to avoid looking at it.

Steve tugged her hands away from her chest. "Toni, your reactor is purple," he told her gently.

For a moment, her expression didn't change as her dark eyes searched his face for meaning. He sure as hell didn't know what it meant, so she didn't find much. Then he watched as the implications sunk in.

_"Purple?"_

"If you want to be technical, it's lavender," he added, but immediately felt lame for it. Toni was too bewildered to comment, thankfully. He remembered one of the strange questions she'd asked him earlier. "Extremis... This serum was red?"

Her head dipped in agreement, and Toni pursed her lips, following his logic. "The reactor used to be blue." In his hands, her fingers tightened into rigid, surprised fists. She didn't look down, but her eyes widened in silent terror. "This is... not good." Her hands slid out of his.

She was probably right. But then again, neither of them could know that for certain yet. So Steve seized his chance to take the optimistic point. "It healed all your injuries, didn't it? Maybe it's healing the shrapnel damage." Toni was looking away, unwilling to believe it. Steve waited for her to look him in the eye before he continued. "Maybe you won't need the reactor anymore, Toni. We don't know yet."

Her eyes brightened with emotion. "Exactly, Steve! We don't know... We don't know it this stuff is compromising the reactor. We... I don't..." She was breathing heavily now. "Steve, I -" Toni broke off with a rare sob.

Steve was as still as a statue, paralyzed by a kind of terror he'd never experienced before. He'd held his own against Nazis,aliens, and government agencies, but nothing prepared him for this.

_I made Toni cry. _

Steve had never seen her break down like this. Heck, he'd never even upset a woman, except that one time with Peggy... That was different from this. He could handle a woman with a gun.

As Steve watched Toni Stark's shaking shoulders, it hit him that he wanted nothing more than to stop her crying. He wanted to tell her that it would be okay, and that whatever happened, he would help her get through it. But she had dissolved into tears already, so Steve pulled her into his arms instead, communicating every promise and reassurance he had in him through a tight hug. Her knees seemed to give out, so he lowered the two of them to the floor, letting her curl into his chest and murmur her thoughts against his uniform.

"What am I going to do?" she mumbled, repeating it again and again. "What am I doing?"

He answered in kind. "I don't know, but we can figure this out... We will... You're going to be fine..."

"I am so freaking sick of this reactor, Steve," she said, the first words that seemed directed at him.

Unsure of how to respond to that (magical energies powering electromagnets were not his specialty), Steve could only squeeze her tightly to let her know he was listening.

"So what if it saved my life that one time? It's been killing me ever since." Toni loosened her hold on Steve to speak to his face rather than his bicep. "I'll see if I can replace it. You know, maybe that serum wasn't perfected? Maybe I only survived 'cause it collected in the reactor instead of fully integrating in my bloodstream?"

She was still sniffling, and tears were climbing down her cheeks, but Toni was a scientist and still managed to root out and clutch at her rational thoughts.

He raised an eyebrow at the implications. Not that he wanted her to keep that thing lodged in her sternum, but..."What you're saying is that... the reactor saved your life again?"

Both of Toni's eyebrows shot up. Her hands, which had been crushed between them while Steve had hugged her, now came up to Toni's face. She scrubbed at her expression, like she wanted to rub out her tears. The motion made her hair flop into her eyes, and as she brushed it absently, pursing her lips, Steve watched the cogs turn in her head. She was close enough for him to make out the minuscule twitches of her face that marked her thoughts, and he was mesmerized by it. For some reason, her genius was incredible to behold, even if he didn't understand it.

"If you're right, that might also mean I can't get it removed." Toni eventually replied, but her tone suggested that she had already figured out the answer, and that there was no "if" to speak of.

"Or, it could mean the serum will heal your entire rib cage once the reactor and the electromagnet is taken out." Steve reminded her. "This serum is supposed to help people. I don't know what happened to Dr. Hansen, but I know that the original idea behind this serum had nothing to do with super-soldiers, and everything to do with regeneration."

When she still looked concerned, Steve stood up, and held out a hand for Toni. He pulled her to her feet, but when she tried to release him, he didn't-he tugged on her until she finally returned his gaze.

"We'll get through this," he told her. "You're not alone. I've seen you try to do things on your own, and it doesn't work. That wormhole is still in your head, isn't it?" she squeezed her eyes shut at the word. Steve hunched down to her level, wishing to see her dark eyes again. "You're a survivor, Toni, but you don't have to do it all by yourself. You have friends. You have team mates. And you've got me, Toni. I'm not going anywhere. Alright?"

For a moment, Toni just looked at him, blankly, moisture still in her eyes.

Then she shook her head, whispered "You're such a _sap_," and kissed him hard.

He almost forgot to close his eyes, mostly because she'd yanked him down to her mouth with strength he wasn't used to, but he shut his eyes and eventually melted into her embrace, as close to bliss as possible in such a chaotic place. She moved her hands to the back his neck, running her fingers through his hair, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She was much smaller than him, but they fitted together unlike anything else.

Steve marveled at the feeling of her lips, and the touch of her body - mostly bare, he was _incredibly aware_ of that fact - under his fingertips. They broke apart for a breath, and a shared look, before they move towards each other again, with even more fervor.

This time she ventured farther, her tongue somehow part of the kiss, and he opened his mouth moments after she did. Steve had never done this before, and was probably not too great, but Toni sure as hell was, and he learned _fast_.

When they came up for air again, Steve couldn't stop himself from smiling widely at her flushed face and darkened eyes. God, she was beautiful.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You realize how corny you look right now, right? Like, cornier than the Midwest."

"It's not corny if it's genuine," he argued, rolling his eyes. She was so oblivious sometimes. "I don't go around kissing all the girls I rescue."

Toni scoffed lightly. "The _rescue_ part is definitely up for debate." She paused, carefully reading his gaze. "Define genuine," she requested warily, her hands sliding down to his shoulders.

He replied without missing a beat. "I'd like to take you out. Dinner and a movie. We can watch that Tolkien one, like you mentioned before." Steve had been otherwise preoccupied for most of today, but this proposition had been in the back of his mind ever since she'd barreled into his life at three in the morning. "_That_ kind of genuine."

His promptness seemed to surprise Toni, who responded with several blinks and an "Ah."

She was silent for a few more seconds, before smiling a little shakily. "Well I'm honor-bound to never skip out on Lord of the Rings. Guess that's a yes."

Not the reaction he was hoping for, but she was giving him a chance, and that encouraged him enough to lean in to kiss her, just one more time. She hummed her contentment, and Steve's fingers tightened on the small of her back.

_Click_

Toni wrenched herself away from Steve, and whirled - wildly - on the spot.

"P-Spidey! Get your ass down here _right now!_" she snapped.

Though he'd heard something too, Steve was astounded when a red and blue figure hopped down from some unknown height, holding a camera and pointedly avoiding Toni's gaze even though he wore a mask.

"Hey To - Ms. Stark. Fancy meeting you here."

"Delete it, kid." Toni growled

"What? Delete what?" Spider-Man asked, but his innocent tone was in vain.

"The photo. Oh, damn it, is that a _polaroid?_ Give it here!" She let go of Steve's hand to lunge at Spider-Man, to no avail. She was faster than normal, but it was as if Spider-Man had anticipated her action, he moved out of her reach so quickly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, what, this picture? The one I just took? I'm a huge fan of Iron Man, and like everything about you, Ms. Stark, but do you have any idea how much this is worth?" He stood his ground while Toni stalked towards him, realizing that all he had to do was hold the undeveloped picture above her head. "Hey, be careful, the sun will damage the photo!"

Toni scowled at her height. "I don't want it in the tabloids."

Spider-Man looked between them. "But… but Toni. Iron Man and Captain America? You'll be the power couple of the century! No - the power couple of two centuries." He held the photo close, protectively. "Can you imagine the headlines?"

Steve frowned at the young man. "I'm gonna have to agree with Toni on this. If you're reporting on the events of today, this isn't as important as the plot between the Vice President and the terrorist group, AIM, or President Ellis's rescue, which was facilitated, in part, by the actions of two mutants."

Spider-Man sighed. Steve imagined the kid was pouting under the mask. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Serious news." he looked down at his camera - it was one of those nifty Polaroid cameras, so the last picture was already developing. "But this is a really nice picture." he examined the photo, before thrusting it at Steve. "So, in case things work out, keep it. Also, just an FYI, I can totally photograph weddings."

Toni rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't you be home? It's Thanksgiving."

Spider-Man shrugged. "My ride's concussed. I was hoping you could arrange something, since I cared enough to teleport here - _teleport here,_ Stark - and make sure you didn't get yourself actually killed. You know, I was seriously depressed when I watched the news. It was totally unnecessary."

Toni had the grace to look sheepish for that. "Part of the plan."

"Must've been a crappy plan, you didn't even put Spider-Man in it." He crossed his arms, and his tone was petulant.

"Because Spider-Man has relatives that are probably upset he's not home to peel potatoes for the holiday casserole. I'll get Pepper to find a jet for you and the rest of the non-SHIELD agents." She promised.

Spider-Man sighed in relief. "Great! Glad we could wrap this up before noon. I think there's some kind of sporting event happening today."

Toni sent Spider-Man off to find Rhodey, leaving them alone once more. She looked up at Steve, pursing her lips. He had a feeling she had only just realized that she'd cried in front of him, kissed him, and then agreed to a date.

She opened her mouth, and for one horrible moment Steve thought that she would take it all back, change her mind. Instead, she met his eyes with a bright, determined look.

"I'm sure Coulson's gonna want to talk to us, but until then, do you wanna grab something to eat? I'm starving, and I know you have my credit card." She grinned crookedly at him, probably amused by his surprise.

He glanced at the SHIELD plane, landing in an empty lot beside the destroy yard. Steve wasn't too keen on speaking to Agent Coulson after his absence anyway.

Steve answered with a smile, and reached for Toni's hand. "Sure," he replied with a shrug.

She beamed back, before looking down at their hands. Toni looked like she was ready to comment on it, probably tease him about it, but instead she squeezed his hand gently as she led them farther from everyone else.

All she was doing was looking at him, but Toni Stark's hand in his was enough to make his heart swell with contentment. "What are you hungry for?" he asked unthinkingly.

She stopped suddenly, grinning as she stretched onto her toes to reach his ear. Her answer came straightaway, in a soft, almost seductive sigh that made Steve's heart race.

"_How 'bout some apple pie?_"

He floundered for a reply, feeling like fish with the way he kept opening and closing his mouth. "T-Toni, I don't... I-I mean... what?"

Toni laughed loudly, and patted his cheek. "That was _way_ too easy, Cap," she grinned.

Steve was beginning to remember why Toni annoyed him so much. "There are some things you shouldn't joke about."

She glanced at his expression, biting her lip to keep from smiling. "Alright, then. Next time, I won't be joking."

* * *

**I would really, really appreciate some feedback on this chapter. I've never written ANY romance before. That's why I posted this here, instead of the main story. If y'all think it's decent, I might just add it to the end of Chapter 25 of Alloy, but that's only if I get a couple of reviews that approve of it. **

**So please, review! **

**~Thanks **


	11. Harley Keener

**Ch. 11 - Harley Keener**

* * *

A month after Thanksgiving, Toni snuck out of the Tower. Pepper was frantic, Clint was impressed, Natasha was indifferent, and Steve? Well, he was in DC for the weekend visiting Arlington, but when Pepper called him, he smiled slightly but told her Toni wasn't with him.

In a small Tennessee town, a ten year old boy wheeled his bicycle back into the driveway, deftly avoiding black ice and potholes. It was beginning to snow again, landing thickly on the already-covered ground.

The shed was open, and lit from within. And somehow, Harley knew.

When he pushed the door open, Toni Stark was hunched over her suit, examining the state of the exterior shell with a screwdriver in hand. The shed was still filled to the brim with the gifts - early Christmas presents, she'd labelled them - that Toni had mailed him a week ago. Toni looked up at the sound of the creaky door, grinning widely.

Harley smiled back, but he couldn't help but wonder what she was doing here. He'd thought that the gifts would be the last mark of Toni Stark in his life.

"Got a new suit to show ya," she told him, not bothering with any formal greeting. She acted as if this was an everyday thing for the two of them, and not some out of the blue visit to Tennessee. Toni stepped back from the upright suit, arms spread. "Any thoughts?"

It was a very small suit, clearly meant to be fitted to Toni's body. It wasn't painted red and gold, and the head's design wasn't as brutish as her normal suits. What really surprised Harley, though, was that this suit was obviously meant for a woman, and wasn't bulked up with extra armor and weaponry like the other Iron Man suits.

But he didn't comment on any of that. Clearly, this suit was built for speed and stealth. "You should paint flames on it," Harley advised her, rolling his bike into view.

"Flames?" She repeated dubiously, eyeing the patterned steel frame of the bike.

Harley nodded sagely. "The flames make it go faster. It's a proven fact."

"I'll keep it in mind," Toni shrugged. "But I'm afraid it won't work for this suit. What with the retro-reflective plates and all." She reached for the nape of the suit's neck, and the entire suit shuddered into camouflage mode.

He beamed in reply. "How long are you staying for?" Harley wondered, "'Cause we've got room in the house, if you want. Since you're not supposed to be dead anymore, you can meet mom and Taylor."

Toni grinned toothily. "I talked to your mom at the diner already. I can't stay the night, but why don't we go pick up your sister and we all get dinner? I know a good restaurant just 20 minutes from here." She switched off her suit, and strolled over to the door.

Harley turned, following her with a skeptical look. "Toni, it takes at least thirty minutes just to drive to the next town over," he said.

She yanked on her jacket and her grin became a smirk. "We're not driving there, kid."

* * *

**I wrote this a while ago! Just kinda forgot about it... whoops :3**


End file.
